Luneth's Silver
by TheLonelyAbsol
Summary: (FF3) Luneth and his friends start their quest as usual, but things change and Luneth has difficulty revealing his dark secrets... yaoi LunethxArc in later chapters. Warning: character alterations, and they keep the Desch. Ends without ever leaving the floating continent, unless someone wants me to continue.
1. The Three Warriors?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or any of the characters.** I do have some of my own characters popped in here and there...

I deleted the first chapter, as it has nothing to do with the rest of the story. If you want it back, leave a review or PM me. The story now starts on the airship, after leaving Kazus with a disagreeable hitchhiker... Enjoy! ^-^

* * *

Luneth shook his head, staring at the ground below as he adjusted the airship's course. "But Arc, what in Ur possessed you to go off without me? If the ghosts had been violent..."

"Look Luneth, I don't always need you!" Arc huffed, bristling at his friend's overprotectiveness. Seeing Luneth's crestfallen expression, he sighed. "...But thanks for going after me. I don't know if I would have been able to walk home without..."

"It's okay," Luneth replied immediately, his spirits returning. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"You guys are sick. Talking about friendship and being cheerful all the time..." Refia glared at the two boys from her seat in the far back corner of the airship. Wrapping her arms tighter around her knees, she continued. "All my friends are ghosts now, so show some respect."

Arc looked over at her guiltily. "Sorry... I guess I didn't think about that. But we weren't trying to be mean."

"Yeah! We were having a private conversation that you butted in on!" Luneth turned his chin upwards, spinning the steering wheel with an air of superiority. Arc noticed his fingers clench tighter on the wood, a sure sign his friend was ticked off.

"What's up with him?" Refia muttered darkly. "Oi! Did you leave your manners at home, with your flock of loving admirers?"

The airship jolted suddenly, shaking its passengers as it ground to a halt. "Get out," Luneth growled. "We're walking the rest of the way."

"You know that means a longer time with her," Arc whispered.

"What!?" Refia jumped to her feet, racing to the wheel. "No way! There are Bugbears out there, and..."

Luneth drew his longsword, leveling it out to point directly at the girl's chest. "Luneth!" Arc tugged at his friend's tunic frantically. "What are you doing?"

"Apologize to Arc. You hurt his feelings, and made him apologize to you. Now say you're sorry! Right now!" The boy's lips curled into a snarl.

Refia backed away uneasily. "All right. But I... Sorry, Arc. It's not your fault. It's your idiotic fr-" Luneth thrust his blade forward, and Refia dashed for the door. "I'm going, I'm going!"

…

The trek through the forest was long and hard. Arc would point out the silhouettes of monsters in the underbrush, and the three would take detours to avoid them. Luneth was suddenly in high spirits, only making Refia even more uneasy.

"Look!" Luneth cried suddenly. "Those Bugbears don't see us yet, Arc! We could try for a primitive attack!"

Arc looked where his friend was pointing and trembled. "For starters, I call it a preemptive strike, and for your information, I'm not going anywhere near those things."

"Aww, come on. It'll only take a minute," Luneth begged. "They'll never see us coming!"

Refia shook her head slowly, trying to tell the boys that she wasn't up to the task either.

"Plus, Refia doesn't want to do it," Luneth continued, ignoring Arc. "So that means we _have_ to!"

His companions moaned, but he darted forwards anyway. Raising his blades, the silver-haired boy slashed through each bear he encountered. Arc and Refia watched in silent horror as the Bugbears fell one by one.

Arc nodded slowly. "Ah, I understand now. He wanted to practice out here. Luneth really takes his practicing seriously. Sometimes I think it makes him feel better."

Refia stared at him. "You mean, he actually _likes_ life-or-death situations like this? Why in Kazus would your idiot friend want to put it all on the line for a little training?"

"Hm, you say, 'Why in Kazus,' huh. That's cute." Arc giggled.

Refia turned away from the obvious lunatic and looked around for the obvious idiot. "Whatever. Hey, your friend's about to get killed out there."

"WHAT!?" Arc looked about frantically. "He's always too reckless! If one of those bears got a back attack on him... Uh, where is he?"

Refia shrugged. "I don't know. That's why I thought he was getting killed. People always die far away from the rest of humanity."

"Oh, shut up." Arc marched farther into the woods, tugging at brambles that entangled themselves in his pants. "Luneth! Where'd you go? Luneth!"

Arc whipped around to a rustle in the bushes. "Oh, there you are. You had me worried for a... a..."

"A WEREWOLF!" Refia shrieked, scrambling after Arc to pull him out of the monster's line of sight. But it was too late. The beast swung its head around to snarl at the two. Specks of saliva splattered on their faces, leaving behind the putrid scent of rotten meat.

"LUNETH!" Arc turned to run, screaming his friend's name. Spotting an opening, the beast lunged at the boy's back.

Refia hugged Arc close, as if she could protect him fron the gaping jaws by simply being there. "Luneth! I'm sorry! I'm sorry you're an overreacting jerk! Please come back!"

As if in slow motion, the monster's claws grew closer, its mouth agape to shred them apart. Then a streak of motion, the sound of claws sinking into flesh, and Refia collapsed.

* * *

I actually did get my party of Arc and Luneth killed by two werewolves the first time I tried the game... it was pitiful.


	2. Ingus the Expressionless Freak

Yeah, sorry about making Luneth so odd around Arc... but all will be explained soon!

* * *

Arc blinked, looking first at Refia and then at Luneth. At a loss, his gaze drifted back up to the lanky werewolf. "Do you mind?" He squeaked.

The werewolf itself looked rather confused. Its prey had been replaced, and it had no taste for buff warrior boys armed with sharp longswords. With a huff of frustration, it pulled its claws out of Luneth's chest and loped away.

Arc dropped to the ground next to his friends. Refia had fainted dead away, even before Luneth had leapt in front of the monster to protect his companions. "Why?" Arc whispered, slipping a potion out of his pack and pouring it down his friend's throat.

Luneth's eyelids fluttered, and he struggled to sit up. Arc scooched back to give him space, knowing that the boy wouldn't listen to any concerns for his safety. "What happened to the prissy girl?" He rasped, taking in her prone figure in the grass next to him. "Did she swoon away?" Chuckling to himself, he began coughing up blood.

"Here, drink another," Arc whispered, handing another potion to his friend. "That was really stupid, but... thank you."

Luneth accepted the bottle, grimacing as the bitter concoction slid through his mouth. "Heh... well, at least I'm not dead... hey, how many of these do we have left?"

"We have enough to get by. And we can buy more later when we run out." Arc glared down at Refia and prodded her shoulder. "When are you going to wake up? So lazy..."

Refia moaned, sitting up and looking around blearily. "We're not... dead?" Catching sight of the bloody holes in Luneth's tunic, she gasped. "Huh? What in Kazus happened to you?"

"You say, 'What in Kazus?' Heh, that's cute." Stretching out, Luneth got to his feet and stumbled around. "Which way's the airship?"

"Hold it right there!" Refia pulled the boy back to the ground. "You're not going anywhere, yet! You're in no condition to walk around, and since you just saved me, I won't let you hurt yourself even more."

Pulling his arm out of her death-grip, Luneth glared at her. "I wasn't protecting _you_. I was protecting Arc!"

Outraged, the girl stood up and stomped on his leg. "You must _love_ him, then! That's gross!"

"Love him?" Luneth was confused. "You mean like... Oh, that's SICK! How dare you try to involve Arc in something like that! Why, I'll..."

Arc held out a hand to help Luneth stand up. "It's all right," he soothed. "Ignore her. She doesn't understand."

Understand what? Refia understood perfectly well that Luneth's overprotection wasn't healthy. Though... sometimes, it was a good thing. Just now, she and Arc would have died if Luneth wasn't such a good friend. Wordless, Refia held out an arm to the idiot. Together, Arc and Refia supported Luneth and helped him back to the airship.

As soon as they stepped foot inside, Luneth collapsed on the floor and fell asleep. Refia took the helm silently and tried to figure out how to drive the ship, while Arc sat down next to his friend and opened a book to read for the ride.

…

"Wake up, idiot. We're here." Refia kicked Luneth's sleeping form and stomped out the door.

Rubbing his eyes, the boy yawned and threw a dagger after Refia. It buried itself into the wall next to her, causing much squealing and screaming about taking care of the ship.

Arc looked up from his book and stood up cautiously. "Come on, Luneth. Leave her alone. She can't help being a girl."

"I heard that!" Refia yelled from outside. "Come on, Arc. We don't need him. It's a castle!"

"Castle?" Luneth perked up instantly. "Where? Is it big? Let me see!" He bolted out of the ship, running smack into a young soldier.

Irritated, the soldier shoved him aside, lifting his gaze to the airship. "Your ship is quite interesting. You say it flies?"

"Yup," Luneth said proudly, recovering from the boy's rudeness. "She can also-"

"That is marvelous," the soldier continued, ignoring Luneth completely and turning back to Refia. "Do you think I could have a go?"

Luneth watched him uneasily, witnessing the birth of another Refia-supporter. That wasn't the only creepy thing about him, though. Contrasting with his excited voice and clearly interested words, the boy's face never changed expression. He kept a constant dull, straight face with flat, bored eyes.

"Absolutely not!" Luneth barked. "I don't care who you are, you will never lay a finger on the machinery of our beautiful..."

As Luneth struggled to remember the name of the airship, or if it even _had_ a name, Refia took the boy by the arm and led him into the airship.

"NO!" Luneth shrieked. "Arc's in there! Get that expressionless freak out! If he so much as touches Arc, I will-" Luneth watched in horror as the airship wobbled slowly upwards. After a brief hesitation at the top of its climb, the ship shot off at an astonishing speed, straight into the face of a mountain.

"Wha... no... ARC!" Luneth dashed into the forest, running haphazardly in the direction the ship had taken. Stumbling from loss of blood, the boy finally came to a stop a few yards from the downed airship.

"ARC!" He yelled again. Though the airship didn't look too damaged, there was no telling what had happened inside.

"Oh, hey, Luneth. Did you see that?" Arc's head popped out a side window. "That was great, Iggy! Do it again!"

Luneth sank to his knees, weak with relief. Eventually the three teens exited the ship one by one. Much to Luneth's disgust, the blond soldier had survived.

"If you ever try something like that again, you expressionless freak..." Luneth muttered, jabbing a finger at him angrily.

The freak fixed his blank stare on the idiot. "Please call me by my name; Ingus. And I apologize for crashing your ship. I do not believe it is damaged."

"You should be more concerned about your PASSENGERS!" Luneth stomped over to where Arc was lying back in the grass. "Are you okay, buddy? Did the freak try to pull a knife on you?"

Refia glowered at the two boys, then rolled her eyes at Ingus. "Sorry about that. Luneth can be a bit overreactive... all the time."

"I have noticed that. Do you believe he has a relationship with the redhead?"

"I heard that!" Luneth marched back to the freak and Refia. "Don't ever call him a redhead! His hair is more brown than red. Or are you colorblind, and can't tell?"

Refia punched him in the stomach, and he dropped to the ground, hugging his scarred chest. "Sorry, Ingus. He's a complete idiot."

"That is evident. Now, let us return back to the castle. May I pilot the ship again?"

"Of course!"


	3. Luneth's Odd Behavior

Here's the fourth chapter! Hope you enjoy, about to type the next one. It takes a while because I'm on a Kindle Fire, but a review would help me get motivated! ^-^

* * *

"So, do tell what's going on with you and Luneth," Ingus said casually.

Arc glanced at Castle Sasune uneasily. Luneth had gone in alone, 'to get away from the Refia-supporters and talk to the King in private.' Arc knew this was just an act so his friend could rob the nobles of all their treasures and supplies. But he could come back out any minute, and if he found Arc talking about their friendship...

Refia poked Arc encouragingly. "Come on, he won't be out for ages. There must be LOADS of junk in there!"

"You knew?! That, erm, he was going to..."

She rolled her eyes. "That idiot already told us his first job's going to be a thief. What can we expect?"

Ingus adjusted his position from where he was leaning on a tree. "Now, out with it!"

"Well... all right. It all started when we were quite young." Arc closed his eyes, reminiscing. "The village boys were making fun of me because I was an orphan, and Luneth was hiding in the trees, just watching. I called out to him for help, but he ran away! …We had been friends up until then. When the boys took my books into the forest, I was too scared to go after them. I took my frustration out on Luneth, telling him that we weren't friends anymore..."

Refia shook her head. "I don't understand. Is he doing all the protecting stuff just to be your friend again?"

"I do not believe he is finished." Ingus nodded towards Arc, who was staring into the woods with a far-off look in his eyes.

"Luneth disappeared that night. I didn't even try to look for him. The next day, he came out of the forest, bloody and beaten up. He was holding my books, and all I could do was accept them without a word. I... I later found out that he'd fought the boys, all of them much bigger than himself. And he'd done that just to be my friend!" Arc wiped away a tear. "After that, no one would even talk to Luneth. He was a loner in the village, and was always getting into fights with the bigger boys. Parents told their children to stay away from him, and Topapa and Nina were very rough on him, but the reason he was always getting into fights... was because of me! When the bigger boys picked on me, and tried to steal my things, Luneth was always there, with his stick from the woods. They'd try to spar with him, but eventually he got too good. He was a regular scourge! Soon no one was friends with either of us... so I finally accepted him."

Ingus and Refia were silent for a while. "Wow... I never knew," Refia muttered. That idiot really _didn't _have a flock of loving admirers?"

Arc gaped at her. "You're still going on about that?!"

"He just told us his major sob story. It would be best to show sympathy in this situation," Ingus advised with an air of boredom. Refia glared at him.

"But I just can't believe all his overreactions are because of stupid bullies!" Refia stomped a foot angrily. "If I ever get ahold of the kids who made that monster..."

"He's not a monster!" Arc cried. "He's the best friend in the world!"

Refia smirked. "Oh, yeah? I bet-"

The argument was cut short by a soldier emerging from the castle gates. "Travelers, I regret to inform you that your companion has fled from his audience with the King."

Refia leaped to her feet. "Did the King say anything to set him off?"

"Well, they were talking about how Ingus was allowed to join you, to save the princess..."

"That would have done it," Arc sighed. "Though I don't understand why he hates Iggy so much..."

"Well, he could have just gone off to raid the treasure chests." Refia fixed a serious gaze on the soldier. "Where do you keep your supplies?"

"No, miss. I'm afraid you don't understand. He proceeded up the empty western tower, where the zombies dwell." The man shook his head sadly. "Your friend is no match against the undead."

Ingus' expression flickered. "The western tower? The King had me store a few other supplies there before the earthquake hit! Including the great sword, Wightslayer! Luneth could be stealing it right now!"

"Well, he kind of sort of was given permission... to take whatever he wanted." The soldier wrung his hands worriedly. "But we didn't expect him to take us up on the offer so soon! And in the western tower... Aren't you concerned that the zombies will kill him? Or worse, make him undead?!"

Arc hopped up and ran through the gates. "We have to go help him!"

Refia and Ingus followed reluctantly, Refia because she still didn't like the idiot, and Ingus because the idiot still didn't like him. The young soldier gave a smart salute to his senior, then trudged after Refia. They let Arc lead the way to the monster-filled tower, where they were to encounter a new problem...


	4. Finding Luneth

Thanks for reading, and please review. This is my first fanfiction, so please tell me what you think about it. And by the way, Luneth is my favorite character. ^-^

* * *

Arc stumbled up the third set of stairs in the western tower. "How much further to the top?" He groaned, kicking Ingus in the shin. "And you never said there were so many zombies!"

"I was not aware of how bad the situation has become. This is new to me, as well. And those dangling eyeballs..." The soldier shuddered, though his face remained void of any expression.

"I can't wait until we get jobs," Refia moaned, her voice hoarse from yelling warnings to her friends. "Then we could just blast these things with black magic!"

"Actually, white magic is more effective against these guys," Arc corrected her, smiling to himself. He scanned the room for any more stairs. "Good news, guys! It's the final floor!"

"Great. Hand me a potion," Ingus muttered. He looked about the room. "I don't see your friend. Could he have been defeated?"

Arc shook his head. "We'd have seen his body."

"But we disappear when we die!" Refia put a hand on Arc's shoulder. "Face it. He could be dead!"

Arc shook his head, refusing to believe her. "Luneth would never be defeated by those weak monsters!"

"Says the boy who was complaining about them just moments before."

Arc glared at Ingus. He simply wouldn't believe that Luneth had been taken down. His friend had to be somewhere! He scanned the room, looking for clues.

"Wait!" He tugged at Refia's sleeve, pointing at the empty treasure chest in the center of the room. "Wightslayer's gone!"

Ingus nodded sagely. "Yes, that is true. I recall placing the sword in this chest, at the top of the tower. Your friend must have beaten us here and back."

"But that's just not possible," Refia protested. "Those zombies take forever to kill, and they're everywhere! He'd have to have run though the tower without encountering any monsters at all!"

Arc shook his head in amusement. "Well, if anyone could have done it, it would be Luneth. He's a natural thief. Sometimes he'd steal people's hats right off of them!"

"Do you think he'd have gone on to the eastern tower, then?" Ingus' expression was even graver than usual. "That leads to the princess' chambers! If he has taken anything of value from my lady..."

"He probably already has," Refia laughed, darting back down the stairs. "It's a good thing she's not there!"

The boy groaned, following after her. "So this whole trek was for nothing? I'll kill that soldier..."

Arc took one last glance back at the chest, then hurried off after his new friends.

…

Luneth moaned, rolling onto his back and sitting up slowly. What had just happened? It had felt like... no, he wouldn't think about it. That was grounds for exile. If anyone found out... but when had it started? He couldn't remember anything that would cause... oh. Of course.

He looked around him, trying to determine where he was. A bed sat next to the far wall, empty. Luneth froze up for a moment. Had he eaten... but no. The King had said that the princess was gone, so it was all right. But this was going to be a problem. The boy gazed down at the weapons and items strewn about his feet. What sort of rampage had he gone on, exactly?

At least no one had been hurt. Luneth couldn't see any blood on his clothes, so he assumed that his secret was safe. If he could just make it back to his waiting companions before they noticed something was up...

"Luneth! There you are! What have you been up to?" Arc burst into the room, out of breath and full of smiles. "We thought you'd been killed by those things in the western tower!"

"Er, no, of course not!" Luneth laughed nervously. Western tower? Where were they now?

Ingus popped into the room behind Arc. "Are you still hateful of me? For if you are, I would like Wightslayer back."

Luneth stared at him blankly. "Wightslayer?"

"You know, the priceless red sword that was at the top of the western tower?" Ingus pressed. Following Luneth's gaze to the ground, he gasped in horror. "What is it doing on the floor?! You ingrate! You steal the most powerful sword in the castle, then leave it lying on the ground?!"

Luneth shrugged, handing a red sword to the soldier. "Whatever. You can have it. I hear there's a sword somewhere called kiku-ichimonji..."

"Just stop talking, Luneth," Arc begged. "Ingus was just worried about you, weren't you, Iggy?"

The expressionless freak snorted. "You wish!" Cradling the blade to his chest, he began mumbling incoherent, soothing words to it.

"I find that a little creepy,"Luneth whispered to the other onlookers.

"Me, too, "Arc admitted.

Refia clapped her hands briskly. "Okay, can we go now? Luneth, pick up those supplies. And Ingus... stop that."

The soldier glared at Luneth. "I don't see why he has to come. After such a rude display of misconduct..."

"Hey, I was the first one to start all this! Not to mention I got my orders from a floating crystal!" Luneth was recovering from his confusion quickly, helped out by the sparks of rage Ingus was creating.

"Also, he got quite an incredible amount of supplies here," Arc put in. "Including at least 2000 gil!"

"2000?! Oh, my poor King..." Shaken out of his Wightslayer coddling, Ingus buried his head in his hands.

Luneth found the title familiar. "Oh, you mean that poor excuse for a ghost? He was boring. Plus, he said you were coming with us! What kind of crazy person would do that to me?!"

"Oh, is that why you ran screaming out of the room?" Refia asked dryly.

"Er, that?" Luneth scratched the back of his head, wondering what in Ur they they were talking about. "Um, nature called."

Arc snorted, and Refia turned bright red. "That's not funny! We actually thought there was something wrong!"

"We did?" Arc looked at her curiously. "I thought you said... you thought it was because of Ingus."

"Well, of course! That's what I meant," Refia stammered, turning a darker shade of red.

Luneth rolled his eyes. It was quite clear what was going on here, and he didn't want to get involved. "I get it. You have a crush on Ingus, but you don't want to hurt my feelings because you think _I_ like you too, since you're the only girl. Well, listen here. There are other girls outside this party of mostly boys! Not every guy in the world is going to like you!"

Refia's face crumpled, and Luneth backed up in surprise. Had he said something wrong? "But I'm sure Ingus does!" He offered, gesturing to the sword-hugging freak.

Arc shook his head at his friend's stupidity. "Let's go, Luneth. Come on, guys."

Luneth hopped up and packed away the supplies he had no memory of collecting. Ingus looked up from Wightslayer and started to follow them. Refia stared at Luneth's back for a moment before following. The boy was just clueless, then. Well, he wouldn't be for long!

"Shall we go to the djinn's cave, then?" Ingus asked once everyone was out of the castle. Arc nodded mutely, unsettled by Refia's bad mood. Luneth, oblivious, called dibs on piloting.


	5. The Caves

"Well, I'm glad we found the princess." Arc looked at Ingus expectantly, hoping the soldier would join the conversation. "It's great that she hadn't been captured by the djinn..."

Ingus grunted, his arms folded tightly around Wightslayer to protect it from Luneth. The silver-haired idiot was trying to catch a glimpse of the red blade, while bouncing his own longswords on his knees. "I would still like for her to return to the castle. This is no place for a princess."

Refia huffed. "If it's no place for a princess, then why do I have to come? I'm almost the same as her!"

"You are not!" Ingus' eyes flashed angrily, and he inched closer to Princess Sara's side. "The princess is the most precious girl in the world, not to be compared to a silversmith's daughter like yourself!"

"Hey, um, guys?" Arc poked Luneth with his bow. "Doesn't that monster look a little... too powerful?"

The party looked over to where Arc was pointing. A large mummy groaned, raising a wrapped arm towards the teens.

"Let me handle this!" Luneth raised his longswords and rushed at the monster. It batted him aside, landing a hit strong enough to send the boy flying.

Princess Sara looked at the stricken freelancers and then to Ingus. "Aren't you going to help him?"

"No."

"Well, it's quite clear these monsters are far out of your league. Isn't there anywhere you can practice before coming back here?" The princess pulled Luneth to his feet, casting a Cure spell on his cuts and bruises. Arc watched her with open admiration.

"How did you even make it this far into the cave without getting defeated?"

The princess smiled sweetly at him. "Why, I ran from all the monsters, of course!"

"Eh?" Luneth shouted, pulling away from her. "So you're just a coward, then!"

Ingus slapped him in the face. "No, she's a lady! And if you ever say that to her royal highness again..."

"Oh, stop it, Iggy!" Refia grabbed the boy's mail and pulled him back the way the party had come.

Luneth bounded after them cheerfully, unfazed by Ingus' strike. "Oh, is that so?" He asked, punching the soldier in the stomach. Ingus, being dragged by Refia, could only glare as his rival landed blow after blow.

"Stop that, Luneth." Refia looked over her shoulder at the idiot. "You're going to have to train, too. If an enemy can give you that much damage..."

"Then we need better defensive equipment!"

The girl paused. "Well, yes, but..."

"And we need to open those chests that you passed right by. Because I'm pretty sure there's some armor somewhere."

Refia looked around. "What chests?"

Luneth took the opportunity to slug Ingus again. "The ones on your left."

"I see them!" Arc took off running down a dark corridor. Luneth watched him go, punching Ingus absentmindedly.

"That's it!" Ingus cried, finally cracking. "Let me go! That idiot will pay..."

Luneth darted away before Ingus could break out of Refia's grasp. "I see the exit!"

"But what about your friend?" Princess Sara glanced back at Arc's tunnel.

Ingus grunted. "He'll be fine."

"I'm back, guys! And look what I found!" Arc came running up with an armload of supplies.

Luneth grinned, pointing at something behind his friend. "That's great! But what are you going to do about that guy?"

Arc shrieked, scrambling away from the skeleton warrior. "Someone kill it!"

"Come on, let's get out of here," Refia muttered, pulling Sara to the cave entrance.

…

Refia led the party back to Kazus, where they decided to train in the mythril mine. Because Refia was still wary of meeting Takka again, she stayed at the village entrance with Princess Sara.

"So, what's it like to live in a castle?" She asked after the boys had left.

Princess Sara smiled painfully. "It can be taxing at times. Father would always be stressed about something, while keeping me constantly in his sight. I'm glad I got out before... before the djinn..."

"Don't worry," Refia soothed, realizing she'd upset the princess. "We'll beat the djinn soon, and banish him forever!"

Sara looked at her gratefully. "Thank you, Refia. I-"

She was interrupted by Arc running back, tears streaming down his face. "Refia, can you please come with me? Luneth ran ahead, and Ingus chased after him... I don't want to go in there alone!"

Refia stood up, hands on hips. "This is for your own training, Arc. If you can't beat one of those monsters by yourself, how do you think you'll ever leave a dent in the mummies and skeleton warriors back in the sealed cave?"

"But there are skeleton warriors in _this _cave!"

"I don't care! The princess and I are having a private conversation, and we can't go help you! Fight for yourself." Refia felt a bit bad for being so rough with him, but she wasn't about to face her foster father again.

Arc nodded meekly, heading back to the cave. With a sigh, he approached the last skeleton warrior he had fled from. "Bring it on... I guess."

…

Luneth danced nimbly out of the way of Ingus' wide slash. Something made him pause suddenly. "Wait. Did you hear that?"

Ingus sheathed Wightslayer, cocking his head curiously. "I do not believe I did. What did it sound like?"

Luneth looked around. "It sounded like... Arc screaming!"

"It could be the little genius. We left him behind on the first floor."

"What?!" Luneth slipped on a bronze knuckle. "We have to save him!"

Ingus snatched the longsword out of Luneth's hands. "Be careful with that. You should just use that other bronze knuckle. And do not worry about your friend. He probably does not even need help. We need to concentrate on our own training."

Luneth nodded uneasily, casting a worried glance at the stairs. "If you say so..."

"Hm. But I have a question. Why do you call the princess a coward, yet refuse to believe that your friend is one as well, if not even more so?"

Luneth shrugged. "Because I can protect him."

"Can you protect yourself, though?" Ingus pushed the other boy at a skeleton warrior, blocking the blow that was meant for himself.

Luneth snarled, stabbing at Ingus' leg from his vantage point on the ground. "At least he has a better guardian than your stupid princess!"

"Why you-" Ingus pulled Luneth up and shoved him into the skeleton warrior, who was happy to slice up his face.

Luneth and Ingus fought, rolling over each other on the ground as the skeleton stabbed gleefully at both of them.

…

Arc stumbled down the stairs to a terrible sight. "What in Ur happened here?!" At least twelve skeleton warriors lay scattered about on the ground, and Ingus lay more or less in the center of them. Luneth was sprawled out near the back, beaten to within an inch of his life, but still conscious.

Luneth looked up at him. "Oh, hey Arc. You won't _believe _how much experience I got from beating Iggy!"

* * *

You don't get exp for killing comrades, but I made an exception for Luneth. And will the explanation for the Luneth's surprising increase in strength reveal itself? Heh..


	6. Skip the Djinn

I'm too lazy to do the djinn battle, so.. let's skip ahead to the dragon mountain! And I know I'm just following the plotline and it's an eensy bit boring.. but I'll try and make it more exiting real soon!

* * *

Luneth trudged up the steep slope of the mountain. "I still say I could have done it without completely destroying the ship!" He glared at Ingus.

"It was not my fault." The soldier opened a chest, pulling out an Aero spell. "The ship was too weak to survive the impact of ramming into the stone."

Arc staggered ahead of them, warily checking for any more Rust Birds or fearsome Ruhks. Refia cast a cure spell, and he smiled at her gratefully. "Please heal Luneth, too. That last Rust Bird was pretty nasty."

She nodded reluctantly, still upset about being a White Mage when she'd wanted to wield black magic. Ingus had taken that job, though, and Arc was a Red Mage. Luneth was finally a thief, and there wasn't a single bird on the mountain he wouldn't try to steal from.

"Here Luneth, Ingus." With a little effort, Refia recited the words of the spell for the two bickering teenagers. Luneth grinned at her, but Ingus just nodded. "Hey! Show a little gratitude!" The girl kicked the Black Mage and marched back to Arc.

"I can't believe you're not tired yet." Arc gazed at her in amazement. "Isn't it hard to keep casting spells?"

Refia shrugged. "Not really. It's easy, once you get used to it. I bet you're just tired because you keep casting Sleep!" Arc blushed, and was about to make a smart reply when Luneth shot past them both.

"Hey, where are you going?"

The thief looked over his shoulder. "There's a dragon up ahead!"

Refia laughed. "Just because it's called Dragon's Peak doesn't mean that dragons actually live here. What an idiot."

"No! I saw it! It was really big, too..." Luneth weighed his daggers in his hand. "I don't think these would even have an effect against such a creature!"

Arc shuddered. "It couldn't be too big... I mean, these Rust Birds could be considered dragons all by themselves! Right?"

"Don't worry. I'm only going to steal its treasure." Ignoring his friend, Luneth sheathed his blades and began scaling an almost vertical climb.

"But would that not serve only to enrage the creature?" Ingus asked, turning to his sane companions.

Refia shook her head. "If there _is_ a dragon. And that is highly doubtful. I would have been able to see such a beast from down in Kazus."

"What if it stayed low?" Arc looked up at his friend, who was now almost at the top."Whoa! How'd you do that, Luneth?! You can't even climb a tree that quickly!"

Ingus scrutinized the small form above him. "Oh, my... are those claws?"

"Haha! No, of course not!" Luneth laughed nervously. "I'm just using the bronze knuckles to climb easier!"

Arc nodded. "I see. That makes perfect sense. By digging in with the blades, he can stay in one place easier and climb the cliff more quickly!"

"Can I have a try, Luneth?" Refia called up.

"Sure," came the reply. "As soon as I reach the top..."

The three below watched as their companion pulled himself over the top of the cliff. A few moments later, a pair of bronze knuckles came clattering down.

Refia picked them up first. 'How odd,' she thought. 'They're cool. As if they hadn't been worn just now…'

She gazed up the mountain. "Luneth! Why aren't the knuckles dirty?"

There was no reply.

"Luneth! Are you up there?" Arc craned his neck, trying to catch a glimpse of the thief.

Ingus shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Would you like me to go up first, to check on him?"

"No," Refia replied uneasily. Something about this was a bit off... "Besides, you two would just argue up there, anyway. Um... Arc can go."

The boy in question yelped. "Why me? There could really be a dragon up there!"

"And if there is, Luneth will be stealing its treasure. So go help him, okay?" Refia patted him on the shoulder, placing the knuckles in his trembling hands. "Then throw the knuckles down so Iggy can climb up next."

Arc gulped, but concern for Luneth gave him the strength to slip on the knuckles. "Now what?"

"Just climb," Ingus snapped, giving him a push towards the cliff.

The two below watched as their companion pulled himself up slowly, inch by inch, until he had cleared the top. The bronze knuckles tumbled down.

"Will you be all right on your own until I drop down the weapons?" Ingus looked concerned.

Refia nodded. "Of course! We killed almost all of the birds here, so I have nothing to worry about."

So the one girl watched as her last companion scaled the cliff and disappeared over the top. The knuckles crashed down, dirty and coated in sweat. 'Maybe I should have gone first...'

Refia positioned the blades on her fingers, bracing herself for the long climb. To her surprise, she found it easy, and enjoyed the exercise until she was at the top.

As she pulled herself onto flat ground again, she saw none of her friends in sight. "Ingus? Arc...?Luneth! Hey, come on out, guys! This isn't funny!"

The wind howled in her ears, bringing only an echoing silence throughout the peak... Dragon's Peak...

Wingbeats resonated through the air behind her, and Refia turned slowly around.

The dragon snatched her in its claws, shaking off the bronze knuckles and letting them fall back to the bottom of the cliff. That's when Refia understood. Her friends had been climbing to their deaths. That was why Luneth hadn't answered. That was why her instincts had been going crazy. The dragon had been picking her friends off, one by one.

"Please don't eat me," the girl begged. "I… I have a terrible illness, and you'll die if you eat me!"

The dragon ignored her, soaring down the other side of the mountain to a secluded nest. Refia could make out small shapes from her view from above... dragon hatchings? The remains of her friends?

"Oh, here comes Refia! She's that wacky girl I was telling you about. Don't worry, she won't bite you! At least, I don't think she will..."

Refia glared at the nest. That had definitely been Luneth's voice. So she wasn't the only survivor...

The dragon dropped her suddenly, its talons opening and letting the girl fall fifteen feet down, onto the nest. She landed with a crash on top of someone, hopefully Luneth.

"Ow... you were right, Luneth. She doesn't bite. But she sure does squash you pretty badly!" The person underneath Refia pushed her off gently, and she found herself face-to-face with the second most handsome boy in the world.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" She cried, standing up to help him. "Are you hurt?"

The boy grinned, accepting her hand. "Nope! Just a little squashed..."

"I'm terribly sorry," Refia repeated before looking around at last to see who else was there. "Oh. So we all made it?"

Arc nodded. "What, did you think we'd all been eaten?"

"Of course, Arc. Girls always jump to the worst conclusions. That's why you can never please-" Luneth was interrupted by a shoe flying into his face.

"So, as I was saying..." Refia started up a conversation with the boy and discovered the following things about him:

His name was Desch. He was Salina's sweetheart. He liked to sunbathe. He had amnesia.

Luneth glared at Refia, recognizing the look in her eyes. "Don't you dare seduce this guy. He has a girlfriend!"

"I know... but why is he so cute?"

Desch stepped back from the conversation about himself that he had no part in. "So, you said your name was Arc, right?"

"Yes. What's that around your neck?"

"I... it's a secret." Desch looked at the boy guilty. "Actually... I don't really know. Salina gave it to me..."

Arc giggled. Behind him, Luneth was tapping on a dragon hatchling.

"What is this thing? It looks like a messed-up frog with wings!"

Desch pulled him away from the youngster. " Don't touch it! The mother will get mad!"

"Too late," Ingus said cheerfully, pointing at the returning mother dragon.

"We have to run away!" Desch cried, leaping out of the nest. Luneth watched him fall.

"That may have been the stupidest course of action I've ever seen," he scoffed.

Refia rolled her eyes. "And what makes you say that? I've seen you do some pretty-"

"Are you kidding?" Luneth shouted, grabbing hold of her shirt. "There are baby dragons all around here! He could have just ridden one down!"

Arc tapped his friend hesitantly. "Um wake-up call. The mother would go ballistic, and probably kill us all. And secondly, those little things have a long way to go before they can actually fly. Desch did the right thing."

"Yes. And Refia will be fine if she manages to land on him again!"

"Shut up, Iggy. Come on, Arc. We can just leave the idiot here." After replacing her shoe, Refia grabbed her friends, and they all jumped together.

"What morons," Luneth muttered. Grabbing a small egg and shoving it into his pack, he hopped out of the nest, retracting his claws as he fell.


	7. Luneth's Silver

So.. here we go! Enjoy!

* * *

"Kaine... Paolo... Vakuto..."

Ingus butted Luneth with the hilt of Wightslayer. "What are you mumbling such nonsense words for?"

The thief shrugged, looking the picture of innocence. "I don't know what you're talking about." He glanced back at the black mage, suddenly confused. "Wait. How are you using Wightslayer if you're a black mage?"

"Even if I can't use it in battle, I can still carry it around with me!" Ingus huffed, turning away from his rival.

Desch chuckled at them. "Nice teamwork earlier, you two. I noticed how Ingus put monsters to sleep so Luneth could steal from them easier."

"That wasn't anything special," Luneth snapped. "I could have taken their potions with my eyes shut!"

Refia groaned. "Just stop bickering, you guys! I need to get experience so I can cast Mini, and your arguments are not going to attract... Wait."

"No. Oh, no," Luneth muttered, backing away from the girl. "Like heck I'll be bait for you. No way!"

"I do not object." Ingus strode past the thief, wading through the tall grass towards the forest. "I believe I could attract more foes than him, anyway. Being superior, it is only natural..."

Luneth darted past him, waving the sheaths of his daggers on his hands. "You just wait and see!"

"Why is he wearing those over his hands? He looks like a weird bird," Desch laughed, pulling out a potion and drinking it unconsciously.

Refia snatched it out of his hands. "You don't need that. Just wait here until those morons return."

"What about me?"

The girl turned to Arc wearily. "You need to go beat up some monsters. It's the only way you'll get stronger, and the only way to get Luneth to stop protecting you so hard." At the boy's look of protest, she wagged a finger. "Don't you remember what happened with that werewolf back in the last forest?"

"Werewolf? What about a werewolf?" Desch was suddenly interested in the conversation.

Arc shivered. "Luneth took a hit from a werewolf to protect Refia and me. It was scary."

"What?! And he hasn't received treatment?!"

"Treatment for what?" Refia shook her head. "Who would even want to waste stuff on that guy?"

Desch moaned, burying his face in his hands. "Oh, this is bad. Very, very bad. Why do you think there are so many werewolves in one forest? The things spread. One beast infects a person, then they both infect more people, and soon..."

"Huh? You mean... Luneth is going to turn into one of those things?!" Arc cried, aghast.

Desch shook his head sadly. "He is probably already in the process. I understand the sheath thing now. Your friend has realized his situation, and is trying to hide it from us for as long as he can. Those supposed bronze knuckles on Dragon's Peak... were likely real claws."

"You said something about treatment," Refia pressed, trying to get more information. "Is there any way we can stop his transformation?"

Desch shook his head. "Not if he already has claws..."

Arc let out a low moan. "This is all my fault! If I hadn't..."

"What's all Arc's fault?" Luneth came bounding up to the group, a hoard of basilisks and the like following after him. The thief grinned cheekily at his friend, his smile wide and revealing nothing about his inner turmoil. For a moment, Arc almost brushed away Desch's claim, but then his gaze drifted to the sheaths pulled tightly over Luneth's wrists.

"Come on, tell me. Are they teasing you? 'Cause if they are, I'll make them stop! Nothing is your fault, Arc." The thief gave Arc a lingering glance, and Arc thought he understood what it meant. The shielding... the werewolf...

Arc burst into tears, running off into the forest. "What's his problem?" Luneth asked, slipping off the sheaths to reveal perfectly normal hands. Refia and Desch stared at him.

"Erm, nothing," Desch mumbled. "I'll go get him back."

Luneth grinned. "Please do. I want him to see the look on Iggy's face when he sees all these monsters..."

The black mage stumbled out of the forest. "Excuse me. Did someone just utter my name? I am sorry, but I'm too busy to help right now. Refia, your beasts."

Behind the ex-soldier trailed at least a dozen basilisks, each one over four feet long. Refia nodded with approval. "That's a lot of lizards. But... Luneth already got three dozen, and in half the time it took you."

Desch returned from the forest, Arc stumbling behind him. "Look, Arc!" Luneth yelled. "Look at Iggy's flabbergasted expression!"

Arc looked up from his tears to see... the same exact bored look on Ingus' countenance as always. The joke brought a weak smile to his face.

"Luneth... can we talk?" Arc looked at the ground, fighting back another wave of tears. How could his friend be joking at a time like this?

"Of course! You mean, in the woods? Away from our friends?"

The red mage nodded. "Yes, if you want to."

Desch stepped back, letting the two walk off together. He looked to Refia, who was beating up the lured basilisks with Ingus' help. "Want some assistance?"

"No, we've got it. Thank you, though."

"Are you sure? I know Thundara!"

…

Arc sat down on a rotten log, deciding to get straight to the point. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" Luneth asked, seating himself on the ground next to the log.

The red mage looked away. "The werewolf thing. Is it true?"

Luneth sighed. "I can't hide anything from you, can I?" Holding out his hands, he fixed a serious gaze on Arc.

The boy looked down at them. What did Luneth want him to...

Sharp claws slid out of Luneth's fingers, and fine grey hairs coated the tops of his hands. Arc jumped back in surprise. "What's going on?!"

"I've been able to hold it back for this long, but I guess I've wasted too much time..." Luneth smiled painfully at his friend, his silver hair spreading down his entire face. "I just wanted to enjoy those last few moments with you guys... If I turn into a monster... promise you'll be the one to kill me."

Arc took a step back, shocked more by Luneth's request than his change in appearance. "Kill you... me? I... I can't, Luneth!"

"Please!" Dropping to all fours, the former thief tugged at Arc's shirt with his teeth. "Before I lose all my humanity, like the beast that attacked me!" His legs bent backwards, sending shivers through the boy's mutating body.

Arc shook his head again. "You won't lose yourself, Luneth! Don't say that!" He stared as a tear slid down Luneth's muzzle. His friend had never cried before, not even when the village boys had left bruises that would last for weeks. His clothes seemed to disappear, replaced by long silver fur. The boy continued to cry, not from the pain of transforming, but from the refusal of his one request.

Luneth screamed suddenly, a muffled sound that Arc had never heard from his friend. A tail slid out, following the course of his twisted spine. A final spasm shook the wolf's body, and Arc barely made out a string of words on the wind. "I don't... want to hurt... you... Refia... Ingus... Desch..."

"Luneth?!" Arc screamed as the wolf collapsed in the dirt, the pack lying next to it serving as the only sign it had ever been human.


	8. Healing Copse

Thanks for reading, and please leave reviews if you're liking it so far... Because I got sad and quit.

* * *

Arc stared at the creature lying in front of him, trying to register what he was looking at. It wasn't Luneth... It couldn't be...

...

Ingus leaned against a tree, settling into a comfortable position. He had ensured that Refia could now use level two white magic. Now it was time for a rest...

Arc streaked past him at a speed that would make a harpy sick with envy. "Refia! Desch! Luneth..."

Refia moaned, casting a Mini spell on herself to return to normal size. "What is it?"

If Arc was surprised by Refia's appearance out of seemingly nowhere, he didn't show it. "Just... come see!"

Refia sensed his urgency, and quickly followed him back the way he'd came. Desch ran after them.

"Are we... too late?"

Ingus stood up. "Too late for what? What in Castle Sasune are you getting so riled up about?"

"Castle Sasune?" Refia shook her head. "You've got to be joking."

"What's wrong with Castle Sasune?" Ingus trailed after his friends reluctantly.

Arc stopped in a small clearing, next to a rotting log. The boy picked up a yellow pack from the dirt. "He's... he's gone."

"Well, that's one less Warrior of the Light," Refia said sadly.

Ingus stared at her in surprise. "Surely he's not dead yet! If he can hold off three dozen basilisks at once..."

Desch shook his head. "That's not what she means. You're completely clueless."

"I beg your par..." Ingus stopped before he started an argument. "...All right, then. Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

Arc nodded, looking on the verge of tears. "Luneth... He..."

"Hey, guys! What are you doing?" Luneth strode out of the forest, a concerned expression on his face. "What's wrong? Didn't Arc tell you that I had to go? Oh, thanks for watching my stuff."

Arc let Luneth take his pack back, his mouth opening and closing uselessly.

"Oh, is that all?" Desch laughed good-naturedly, running a hand through his thick black hair. "We just got a little worried when Arc came running up as if his tail was on fire."

Ingus rolled his eyes. "You got all worked up because he had to take a leak."

Refia slapped him. "How rude! And you're still completely clueless!"

"Could you stop, please? I have something I want to show you all." Luneth led the party up north of where the mages had been practicing, to a secluded copse of trees.

In the middle was a clearing, with three springs of water. A tiny girl stood in the center, clutching a likewise tiny bucket of water.

"Oh, you're back!" She squeaked when she saw Luneth. "That was the most interesting status change I've ever seen!"

Refia snorted as Luneth colored slightly. "Forgot to check for peeping gnomes?"

"No, I'm serious! He-" The girl was interrupted as Luneth picked her up and stuck a finger into her mouth.

The thief gestured to the spring on the left with a tilt of his head. "Look, guys! This springwater will revive you when you faint! It's like the water we used on Iggy when..." Wisely, he stopped talking.

Arc nodded slowly. "Oh, I see. And this pond in the middle will heal our wounds and restore the strength of our magic!"

Desch glanced uneasily at the spring on the right. "And that's the one that Luneth peed in."

"Right." Refia clapped her hands briskly. "I can use Poisona, and we have enough eye drops and gold needles to last us a while. But... No one is to drink that water!"

"Agreed," three people responded unanimously.

Luneth protested in vain. "I swear, I did nothing of the sort!" The gnome in his arms thrashed wildly, trying to push his finger away. A trickle of blood seeped out of her mouth.

"Luneth!" Refia cried. "What are you doing?"

"I'm not doing anything! She's the one biting me!" Luneth glared at the gnome as Refia tugged her out of his grasp.

The girl patted the smaller one gently. "I'm sorry..."

"Noo, it'ss quite all right," the gnome slurred. "He tasted dreeammy..."

Refia stared at her friends for half a second before dropping the girl like an exploding shuriken and dashing out of the copse. Ingus snatched up the tiny pail and was quick to follow, with Desch right on his heels.

Arc and Luneth remained, staring at each other. Completely oblivious to the bloodthirsty gnome, Arc stared at Luneth pointedly. "All right. Tell me what happened back there."

Luneth hung his head, staring at the ground. "I... I don't know. I can't remember a thing."

Arc huffed. "You asked me to _kill_ you! Does that ring a bell?"

"...I remember that. But... what happened afterwards, it's a little fuzzy."

As his friend lifted his head, Arc recognized the look in his eyes. It was the same one Arc would see reflected in the fountains in Ur after a particularly rough pack of bullies. The stare of the lonely, hungry for help, pleading for someone to notice their problem. Seeing it on Luneth's face made Arc's heart throb for his friend.

"You... you fainted. After that, I ran away. That's all."

"Yep!" The bloodthirsty gnome piped up, recovering from the drop. "And that's when I found the interesting creature in the woods! He looked thirsty from sleeping in the forest, so I gave him some revival water and took him to the springs."

Luneth shook his head in amazement. "I really fainted? I've never... done that before."

"Well, the revival water didn't really have an effect, and you woke up on your own a moment later." The gnome shrugged, scrambling up Luneth's leg to reach his shoulder.

Arc nodded, understanding. "So you came to this copse, and let him drink from the status-healing spring. That means-"

"OW!" Luneth cried, flinging the girl off his shoulder, blood dripping from his ear. He looked at the red mage guilty. "...Oh, sorry, Arc. What were you saying?"

"Er, if you transformed back into a human when you drank that water, your lycanthropy could be only a status problem!" Arc grinned, and his friend whooped happily.

Luneth proceeded to dance around the clearing, spinning the bloodthirsty gnome in a circle. "Oh, thank you so much! You can bite me as much as you want, if it can express my gratitude to you!"

"Thanks... but please... stop spin... -ing me..." The gnome proceeded to hurl in a spiral onto the ground.

Arc watched them in amusement, glad to see his friend back to his normal self; the Luneth whose cheerful attitude after a grueling fight could always put a smile on Arc's face.

"Hey, guys! Are you all right?" A nearby tree yelled in Desch's voice.

Luneth stopped spinning abruptly, glaring at the trees. The gnome scrambled onto his shoulder and sank her fangs into his earlobe again.

"We're fine," Arc called back, trying to determine how long Desch had been watching.

The tree rustled. "If that thing tries to follow you, you have Refia's permission to beat the Owen out of it!"

Arc frowned. "Owen?"

"Oh, that won't be necessary," Luneth chuckled, wagging a finger at the girl, who watched it hungrily. "She's going right back home now, aren't you?"

She nodded eagerly. "Of course, good sir!"

A bush on Arc's right shook suddenly. "She called him 'sir!' That's hilarious!"

"I do not find it very amusing," a clump of brambles muttered.

Ignoring the talking plants, the bloodthirsty gnome girl hopped off Luneth's shoulder and darted for the woods. "Come visit me in Tozus soon! I'll be waiting, sir!"

"She said it again! Ha, this is priceless!"

Arc trotted towards the bush to give Refia a good telling-off for eavesdropping, while Luneth went to the healing pond to get some water for his ear. His pack rumbled softly.

"Yosuko...?"

Arc looked back at him. "What did you say?"

"Oh, nothing." Placing a steady hand on the pack, Luneth started to stand. The pack shook harder. "That'll be the bronze knuckles sliding together," Luneth explained away.

A loud cracking sound could be heard from inside the pack. "Heh, that's just the potions mixing with the Antarctic Winds," he muttered to Arc's stares. The pack emitted a loud cry, and Luneth realized he couldn't hide it any longer.

Pulling out the passenger, Luneth grinned at his four friends. "It's just a newly-hatched baby dragon..."


	9. Yosuko

I came up with the name Yosuko on my own; if it has anything to do with anything you've ever heard of... it is entirely coincidental. Google has shown me that it is not a completely original name... but I don't care. I like it.

* * *

Refia stared at the messed-up frog. "Luneth... you didn't."

"I did! Isn't he cute?" The thief cuddled the dragon hatchling to his chest.

Ingus rolled his eyes. "I knew something was going on..."

All Arc could do was grin. He'd known from the start of Dragon's Peak that his friend had planned on getting a dragon...

"His name's Yosuko!" Luneth declared proudly. "He is my new friend!"

"What about Arc?" Refia asked smugly.

He shrugged. "He's still my friend. In fact, I have..." Luneth paused to count the other Warriors of the Light, Desch, and Yosuko. "Five friends now!"

To Arc, this was the best news he'd heard in a long time. Luneth had accepted the others as friends! But... "You made up with Ingus?"

"Of course not! He's just not a bad guy anymore." The thief cradled Yosuko, pulling a piece of bread from his pocket and feeding it to the baby.

Refia watched him with concern. "Luneth... I don't think that's what dragons eat."

"Well, gnomish bread isn't good for much else," Luneth muttered, reluctantly withdrawing the bread from Yosuko's mouth. "And since that girl gave me so much..."

Ingus snorted. "You're supposed to feed it meat. If the mother dragon doesn't come for it soon, I doubt it will live for long."

"Are you doubting my parenting skills?" Luneth cried, hugging Yosuko tighter. "And please, do tell me how I'm supposed to get meat from the monsters if they disappear when I kill them?"

The friends looked at each other. Desch started laughing. "He got you there, Iggy!"

"But really, Luneth! What were you thinking? We can't even feed it..." Refia shot a pitying glance at the dragon. "Iggy's right. That thing will die..."

The thief huffed, turning away from the party and taking his dragon to the forest. "Yosuko won't starve. You'll see!"

Arc watched them uneasily. He had a faint premonition of what his friend was going to do, and he didn't like to think about it. The boy got so carried away sometimes, there was no telling what lengths he'd go to... Arc took off running after him.

A shadow moved ahead of him, but Arc was too determined to be scared. His friend could be putting himself in danger, and he didn't want... "Luneth. What. Are. You. Doing."

"That's right, Yosuko. Eat them all up! Yummy, yummy..." Ignoring Arc, Luneth encouraged his dragon, watching as it ate the village of Tozus.

With a strangled yelp, Arc grabbed the dragon and pulled it away from the gnomes. "You can't let him do that!"

"Well, for all we know, the only thing he can eat is plants, and these enchanted houses look fine to me!" Luneth put his hands on his hips, pouting.

Arc shook his head, placing Yosuko on the ground. "You can't destroy an entire village to feed one stupid dragon!"

"Yosuko isn't stupid! He's only a baby..."

Arc glared at him. "Baby or not, he can't eat Tozus. Why don't you feed him live basilisks?"

"And just how would I do that?" Luneth asked, lifting his foster child out of the grass.

Arc shrugged. "I'm sure you'll figure something out. But I can't help right now... If Refia won't use Mini so we can meet those gnomes... I'll have to. And my job level isn't high enough yet." Waving farewell, he left the thief and his dragon standing next to a battered village of angry gnomes.

Luneth looked down at Yosuko. "You up for your second cousins, five times removed?" The dragon screeched, and his friend's eyes widened. "Oh... good idea!"

...

Desch peered into the forest. "He's been gone a long time..."

"Don't worry about him." Arc scowled. His companions had been especially bad-tempered today, and he would have gladly accepted Yosuko's company. "He's out destroying villages."

Refia squeaked. "The dragon got that big already?!"

"Of course not. Last I checked, they were finishing up with Tozus." Arc rolled over onto his stomach, stabbing a knife into the dirt.

Refia's expression went dark. "Good. Those evil gnomes need to realize the error of their ways!"

"I did not realize you cared so much about the well-being of Luneth's fingers," Ingus snorted, in a voice that could almost pass for amused.

The white mage blushed. "I don't! It's just... After all _his_ fingers were gone, that girl would have moved onto mine!"

"Could you guys be quiet for a second? I think I saw something in the trees!" Desch waved his friends over, and they stared into the dark night.

"I don't see anything," Arc whispered.

"It was there!" Desch insisted, pointing into the woods. "The oddest creature, like a behemoth, but smaller and with longer hair!"

Arc perked up. "What color?"

"I couldn't tell. It was too dark."

Refia jumped at the crack of a twig. "I saw something, too! Back there!" She pointed.

"Do you suppose it is the mother dragon, returning for her child?" Ingus asked, turning to Desch.

He shrugged. "Could be. But that thing was too small to be the dragon, and too big to be Yosuko. It looked... It looked like a special monster we could get a lot of experience from, if we defeated it!"

"How about we not..." Arc offered hopefully. The last thing he wanted was for them to kill a growing Yosuko and bring Luneth's wrath upon them all.

A low growl emerged from the forest, and the four mages looked at each other, each one making up their minds hastily.

"If it comes anywhere near here, I use Blizzard," Ingus mumbled.

Refia nodded slowly. "If I see it again, I'll cast Aero and blow it away!"

Arc shook his head. "If worst comes to worst, I'll use Sleep... but that's it."

"Thundara! Finally!" Desch cried, pumping a fist into the air.

The growling stopped suddenly, and the mages caught a glimpse of a hunch-backed creature loping off into the woods. Refia's Aero hurtled after it, but the spell dissolved as soon as it touched the beast.

"It... it ran on all fours," Ingus mused. "How odd, to see something as quick as that in a forest of mainly basilisks..."

Refia shook her head in bewilderment. "What happened to my Aero? It... vanished?"

"No Thundara," Desch pouted.

Arc glared at them. He hadn't seen it clearly, but the bumps on its back could easily have been wings. But the question was, if that had been Yosuko, where was Luneth?

The disturbed party returned to the magical raft uneasily. Each teenager curled up under their blankets, worried about different things. Arc was concerned about Luneth, Ingus was imagining Castle Sasune without himself, and Refia was thinking about the failed Aero. Desch moaned unhappily, wondering when he'd ever get to use Thundara.

...

When the moon was glowing brightly in the sky, a silver wolf crept up to the raft. Luneth let Yosuko dismount, then laid his pack out next to the boat. Growling a warning to the dragon, he set off for the Healing Copse.

Arc watched him go, smiling sadly. So his friend couldn't escape the curse of the werewolf... but that was the oddest werewolf he had ever seen. For a moment, Arc wondered if that was what wolves used to look like, before everything mutated and all the original animals died out... But there was no use speculating.

He glanced around to see if the others had been watching, but they were asleep. He looked down at Yosuko, instead. The dragon was wet with green basilisk blood. So Luneth had been able to take him hunting...

He hadn't achieved much. The dragon was barely larger than before, and probably only reached Luneth's knees by now. Arc sighed. How long was his friend going to be able to keep this up? And when was Refia going to get over her fear of blood-sucking gnomes so she could use Mini on the party? Not that Tozus was ready for them...

* * *

One of you is capable of reviewing... right? Please let me know what you think!


	10. Yosuko?

Ha, never mind. I'm over it. Who needs reviews, right? It's just fun to write these, and I know... that last one wasn't the best chapter in the world.

* * *

Ingus groaned, rolling onto his side to look out at the forest. In the faint light of morning, he couldn't make out much. In fact... It was sort of dark blue all in front of him. Why couldn't he see the forest at all? He'd been sure he slept on the side closest to the woods, to guard the other two from any dangers...

"Hey, Iggy. Wakey, wakey!" Luneth's irritating voice called from somewhere in front of him. The boy was just getting back now?!

With a growl, Ingus threw off his blanket and leapt out into the blue. His head smacked painfully against something, and he slid down an invisible wall to the grass. "What in Castle Sasune... What did you do, Luneth?!"

"Me? I was a good parent! Didn't I tell you Yosuko wouldn't starve?" Luneth slid down next to the black mage and gestured up at the wall. A light blue head snaked down from somewhere above and blew a puff of smoke into Ingus' face.

Refia limped over to them. "Don't feel stupid, Iggy. It happened to me, too..."

"And she managed to twist her ankle, and hasn't remembered that she can cast Cure yet," Luneth finished. "Yosuko finds it very amusing!"

The white mage blushed, and turned to the overly cheerful red mage next to her. "And this lucky chocobo knew all about dragon growth rates, and failed to alert us!" She kicked him in the shins. Hard.

"Now, now. You're upsetting Yosuko! Don't beat up his friends..." Luneth tutted disapprovingly at her, and began climbing his dragon's back. As Yosuko backed away from the raft, Ingus could see just how huge and magnificent he was.

The dragon looked nothing like its bipedal parent. He crouched on all fours, about six feet high and nine feet long -not counting his tail. His whole body was a dark blue, but his wings were white as the clouds. Two pairs spread down his back; the first were set at his shoulders, and the second, smaller pair stretched out in front of his hips. The lower wingspan looked about twelve feet, while the first could easily be twenty. And the tail...

Yosuko's tail was a wonder in itself. At least ten feet long, it practically glowed with every color imaginable, and ended in a sharp spear of gold. In the place where it connected to the second pair of wings, Ingus got the impression of wisps of cloud surrounding a rainbow.

Strong, muscular legs supported the creature, each the thickness of a young tree. The milky white scales sharpened into five claws at the end of each tawny limb. Two horns protruding from the angular head had the distinct hue of fresh rain, clear as an undisturbed lake.

Ingus gazed up at Yosuko in amazement. Deep amber eyes stared into his, and the dragon snorted with pity.

"Yosuko says you have to walk. You're too dirty," Luneth giggled.

Ingus continued to stare, watching the dragon preen his snowy feathers. "Is that... really him?"

"Of course!" Arc stepped forward, tapping his staffs on the ground. "Dragons grow into fearsome creatures on the eve of their hatching. Luneth's skill in feeding Yosuko has resulted in an incredible appearance on the dragon's part."

Luneth grinned, gazing down at his friends. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go find the bad guy!"

"You don't understand, do you?" Refia cried, stomping a foot. "We can't just take him on as we are, right now! We're too weak, and the mastermind behind the earthquake and all... is strong enough to create an earthquake!"

Luneth shrugged. "Yosuko can do that, too. Can't you, buddy?" The dragon shrieked, stamping a foot in an imitation of Refia and sending a tremor through the ground.

"Morning, guys. What's going... whoa." Desch stumbled to the side of the raft and blinked. Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, he blinked again. And again. "But... wasn't the dragon green yesterday?"

Refia's jaw dropped. "That's all you're surprised about?! What about the size of that thing? It's humongous!"

"I guess so. But I could have sworn it was a nice forest-green color yesterday..."

Luneth nodded. "He was. And he can change back if he wants, too. That's his land camouflage. But this is his flying colors, so hop on!"

Desch didn't need to be asked twice. With a whoop of excitement, he leapt out of the raft, onto Yosuko's back and sat down behind Luneth. The dragon reared and pawed at the air before taking off, straight up into the sky.

"This is his first time, so hold on tight!" Luneth yelled over the sound of wind. Yosuko shifted underneath them, changing direction to go straight down, instead.

As the dragon touched down, Arc and Desch clapped wildly. Refia's mouth dropped, for the third time that day. "That's _it_?"

Ingus shook his head slowly. "I did not see the purpose in that."

"The purpose is that he can FLY!" Luneth crowed exuberantly. "We don't have to go to Tozus!"

Refia's eyes widened. "We don't?"

"Of course not," Desch scoffed. "Yosuko's practically an airship!"

The white mage nodded, realization dawning on her. Suddenly, she began clapping, even louder than the other two.

"This will not turn out well," Ingus muttered to himself. "We will undoubtedly end up skipping many major points of our journey..."

* * *

And boy, was Iggy right!

Keep reading, yay! There's more to come... tomorrow! Mwahahahaha...


	11. Drowning

Yay, thanks for reviewing! So much more people reading... makes me happy. It is now tomorrow. You've all been good to wait, so here's the next chapter. ^-^ And for those of you just now reading, and don't have to wait... you got lucky.

* * *

Luneth patted his pouch for the thirtieth time. "You guys still in there?"

"We won't be, for long, if you keep doing that!" Refia yelled from inside. She had cast Mini on the party to lessen Yosuko's burden, at Luneth's request. The thief himself sat alone on his dragon as they soared through the sky.

Ingus stuck his head out and looked down at the sea below. "Where are we headed?"

"I don't know. Yosuko's the one steering," Luneth said simply, leaning back in the makeshift saddle. Desch had made the thing out of Luneth's old leather vest. And Refia's old tunic. And Arc's old leather vest. And Iggy's mage robe.

Arc's voice came out, muffled by the leather bag. "Why can't I ride with you, Luneth? I want to see, too!"

The boy shrugged guiltily. "Yosuko's the one who said you couldn't ride. I'd love to have you out here, but..." The dragon underneath him roared something, and he bent closer over his steed to hear him better.

"I still think it's unnatural that he can understand that thing," Refia's voice muttered. "Who does he think he is, the Dragon Evoker?"

Luneth patted the pack for the thirty-first time. "Yosuko says you can come out, Arc."

"Wh- who said I wanted to come out?! It's too scary to look down!"

The thief frowned. "Then what did you mean...?"

Silence. Desch nudged the red mage, but the boy was stricken by what he'd almost said.

Ingus pointed at a tall building below them. "What's that?"

"The Tower of Owen," Desch replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. The other gnome-sized people stared at him. "What?"

Refia clapped her hands. "You've recognized a landmark! Your amnesia must be fading!"

"...Oh. Yeah, I guess it is!"

Luneth nudged his dragon onward. "Come on, Yosuko. Let's get off this floating continent and show Desch the rest of the world!"

The multi-hued creature bugled in response, pulling into a dive for a small island. "Wha- what is your monstrous pet doing?!" Ingus cried.

"Who knows. It probably doesn't understand him anymore than he understands it," Refia muttered darkly. "The idiot made up all of that stuff earlier, just so Arc could sit on his lap."

"How dare you! Yosuko, stop this instant!" At Luneth's command, the dragon slammed into a halt in midair, its wings snapping open and catching the wind perfectly to bring itself to an immediate stop.

Luneth dug the girl out of his pack and held her out over the dragon's side. "Say something like that again, and you'll find out the hard way what happens! I won't go easy on you just because you're a girl. In fact, I could drop you right now, if I felt like it!"

Refia struggled to talk, but her fear of heights got the better of her. She flailed about uselessly, wide eyes gazing at the churning water below.

"Arc doesn't have time to waste listening to you," Luneth continued coldly. "And I don't see why you have to be so rude to him! Honestly, if he wants to sit on my lap, that's my problem, not yours! Unless YOU want to sit on my lap, too!"

Desch giggled from inside the bag. Luneth wheeled on him. "We didn't have to take you with us, you know! I could chuck you off, just as quickly as Re-"

"Luneth, please STOP!" Arc cried, jumping out of the pack. Waving his tiny arms, he stood in front of the bag in a protective stance. "Why? Why are YOU being so rude? It was just a small comment; you don't have to take it seriously! You... You could really hurt her, or Desch! What are you thinking? ...Is... is something wrong?"

The thief's face was turning as purple as his eye color. Suddenly, he dropped Refia and tumbled off Yosuko's back, into the dangerous waters below. The girl scrambled back into the pack as Yosuko shrieked and dove after the falling boy. Arc stayed on the dragon's back and wrapped the strap of the bag around a spine to prevent it from sliding off. Casting Mini on himself to reverse the effect, he watched helplessly as his friend disappeared beneath the waves...

...

Luneth staggered onto the beach; a short stretch of sand that spread approximately five centimeters across the land. Shaking the water out of his fur, he looked to the sky. Yosuko was nowhere in sight.

His companions couldn't have gone far... right? Surely they would be looking for him...

Then he recalled what had happened. He'd lost control of his temper, nearly killing Refia and threatening Desch's life. As his rage had flared out of control, he'd fallen off of Yosuko and ensured that none of his friends would want to follow! And all for what? To defend Arc's honor against one of Refia's stupid comments...

He shook his head sadly, water spraying from his muzzle. Why had he even bothered? Heck, Arc could have sat on his lap of he'd wanted to that badly! Luneth would let that boy get away with murder... In fact, he'd already let him perform mass basilisk genocide.

...Why was he even thinking about this? The look in Arc's eyes had clearly explained that he'd been completely repulsed by Luneth's behavior, and would be happy enough if he never saw him again. That thought alone was enough to break a werewolf's heart.

He howled pitifully, a desperate, mewing sound that escaped his throat unconsciously. Arc... Arc didn't want him anymore... and it was his own fault...

"Luneth? Luneth! Where are you?" A crashing sound came from the underbrush, along with a familiar voice. The wolf pricked up his ears, gazing across the sea to the forest on the small island. He hadn't even noticed he'd been washed ashore the wrong island... but that didn't matter. What mattered was... Arc needed him! He still cared, and that was all the push Luneth needed.

With a boost from bracing against the base of a mountain behind him, the wolf leapt into the sea, paddling like mad. Though he'd never swum before, ancient instincts kicked in and Luneth found himself making headway against the strong current trying to keep him from his friend. With another howl, this one of determination, he thrust forward through the water.

Ignoring the icy cold seeping through his fur coat, he kept going. Eighty meters to go... Panting for breath, he inhaled seawater and began coughing uncontrollably. Choking and wheezing, he paddled on. Sixty-five meters... Though his muscles were burning, he knew he had to make it. He'd been through worse, hadn't he? There was that time when he'd raced the bullies, to get back Arc's bread, right? And they ran through and around the forest, at least five times...

Fifty meters... Luneth stopped breathing. It had become too much of a chore. And anyways, he could breathe when he saw Arc! Why bother with it now? Forty... wait. Why was he paddling, anyway? And what was waiting at the other side that had him so worked up? The wolf took a shuddering breath. Why... was the current so strong? It wasn't natural... Maybe he should just stop, right here. It would be so easy...

"Luneth!"

...What? A voice... calling his name? The wolf paddled harder, hope returning. Thirty more meters... Something was on the other side. Someone. That was the reason he had to get there! Someone needed him... but that was no reason to breathe. Twenty... Luneth felt himself fading, as though it was someone else paddling through the water... But... something like this had happened before, surely? Village children pelting him with stones, simply because they couldn't lay a hand on Arc anymore... Then, the best technique had been to curl up into a ball on the ground...

The wolf was sure that course of action would work here... If only there was any hard ground. All he could feel beneath his feet was the numbing sensation of a cold he had long since stopped feeling. Ten meters... His life ebbing away, Luneth felt his paws touch muddy ground. Arc... where was Arc... That was why he had come, right? Arc needed...

The wolf collapsed in the water, bubbles exploding out of his open mouth. Submerged in the shallows, he felt warm hands touching him, rolling him over. The hands turned into arms that carried him out of the sea. Warm, kind arms... forming fists, pushing out the bad water...

Luneth retched, seawater spewing out of his mouth. Arc watched him heave up the remains of gnomish bread and various other last-resort foods from lunch. The wolf struggled to stand, lifting one leg high as a result of kicking against coral. He gazed at the boy, purple eyes filling with tears.

Running a hand down the wet fur, Arc whispered gently to his more-than friend. "It's all right. You made it... I'm here." The wolf shuddered, spraying water all over the mage. He laughed, casting a warm Aero to dry the wolf's fur. "Want a Cure?"

Nodding, Luneth curled up next to Arc, his chest moving rhythmically up and down. The boy completed the spell, noting with satisfaction that the leg tucked underneath the belly instantly, no more care required to avoid injuring it further. The mage sighed, leaning his head over Luneth's.

"That was reckless." The wolf growled softly, his eyes sliding shut. Arc realized now was not the best time. Chuckling to himself, the normally shy bookworm lay down next to the wolf, resting his head on top of the furry stomach. "Thank you for coming back..."

* * *

Whoopee! How'd you like that? Arc and Luneth are so cute together! I'll definitely post another chapter today... but I'm tired. That took an hour. Meh.


	12. Passengers

As of right now, there have been a total of 45 visitors to this story. But... only 35 read the first chapter. This confuses me to no end...

So! What happened to the rest of the party?

* * *

Arc yawned, stretching out in the grass. His fingers touched against someone's hair. Smiling to himself, he ran his fingers through the softness, towards... human ears.

"Arc? What are you doing?" Luneth sat up slowly, giving his friend an odd look.

The boy jumped to his feet, his face flushing with embarrassment. "Oh, sorry. I thought..."

Luneth shook his head. "Say no more. That's still a secret... But what did my ponytail ever do to you?" He adjusted the string on his hair, chuckling to himself.

Arc stared at him. Had all of last night been a dream? Luneth, drowning in the sea, risking his life only to reach Arc's voice? He was as upbeat as ever, with no signs of ever having been a wolf.

The thief's hand clapped down on his shoulder. "But hey... thank you. I wouldn't have made it without you."

Arc blushed, lowering his head to avoid meeting his friend's eyes. "It's all right. That's... that's what friends are for!" So it hadn't been a dream... He let out a sigh of relief.

"Yeah? Well, we'd better find our other friends. I'm sure Yosuko will help." Luneth tilted his head back, cupping his hands towards the sky. "YOSUKO!"

The red mage looked up at the clouds. Nothing happened for the longest time. Then a shriek resounded, echoing throughout the mountains. Luneth grinned and waved to his dragon. Yosuko dropped out of the sky gracefully, spreading his talons as he landed in the dirt.

"Wait... What?" Luneth listened closely as his dragon released a series of urgent huffs and grunts. "Oh, no. This is bad..."

Arc tugged at his sleeve. "What is it? What's bad?"

"Erm, it would appear that our traveling companions have been kidnapped by dwarves."

"WHAT?!" The red mage was dumbstruck. "Why? How? Shouldn't we go and save them?"

Luneth was already climbing onto Yosuko's back. "No. We're going to go steal a ship first."

"A... a ship? Why would we need..."

Yosuko lifted him up in his toothy beak. As they took off, Luneth helped Arc into the saddle. "Yosuko says that dwarves like ships, and if we can give them one, they might release our friends!"

"...That has to be the worst logic I've ever heard. And where, exactly, are we going to get a ship from?" Arc glared at the sea below him, too exasperated to realize how high up they were.

Luneth directed Arc's attention to a ship docked next to a cave. "There."

"I'm sure someone needs that."

Yosuko screeched, swooping low over the water. A monstrous head erupted out of the sea, roaring in anger and trying its hardest to take a bite out of the Light Dragon.

Luneth whooped in excitement. "This is the reason no one needs it! And when we're strong enough, we're going to beat that thing! Whatever it is..."

Yosuko flapped higher and pulled himself to a stop, hovering gently next to the anchored boat. "Well, what are you waiting for?" Luneth asked. "Pick it up! That great beast will eat us in no time flat if we go by sea!"

"Glad to see he knows that much," Desch muttered from Arc's pocket.

Arc screamed. He couldn't help it. "Desch! What are YOU doing here?!"

"Um, you're the one who carried me all this way without noticing."

Luneth laughed. "So clueless, Arc. Come on, Yosuko! You can do it!" Arc knew the dragon could. He had grown a lot more overnight by feeding off of monsters in the woods. He could easily tote the huge ship around.

The thief patted his scales encouragingly while Arc talked with Desch. The amnesiac told him everything that had happened after Luneth's fall.

"Well, Luneth was going backwards, so you made yourself big. Not sure how that would help the dragon keep his balance... And then, when Refia hopped back into the pack, it got really crowded in there. So while you adjusted the bag on Yosuko's spines, I climbed into your pocket! Simple as that."

Arc stared at him. "Then what?" His mouth was dry as he contemplated what his friend could have seen last night.

"Then I fell asleep." Desch yawned, stretching out his tiny arms. "Your pocket is very comfortable, you know?"

The red mage sighed with relief. He hadn't seen anything... Yosuko lurched suddenly, rising into the air unsteadily as he lifted up the ship.

"Yeah! Good job, buddy!" Luneth sat back down, leaning towards Desch. "Hey. So what happened to Refia and Iggy?"

Arc rolled his eyes, pushing Desch back into his pocket. "He doesn't know. He was with me."

"...And what happened to _you_?"

The boy paused, debating whether or not to tell him the truth. "I... I jumped off after you, and hit my head against a rock..."

Luneth sniffed at the air. "You're lying. Tell me what really happened."

"Gah! How could you tell?!" Arc squeaked, flustered.

"You don't smell like seawater."

He hung his head. "Fine. Yosuko flung me off, and I hit a tree."

Arc flinched as Luneth began yelling. "Yosuko! Why did you slide Arc off? You can't do that to your passengers! I am very disappointed in you!"

Arc opened his eyes gingerly. "You're not mad at me?"

"For what? I'd have been mad if you really _did_ follow me into the water... but Yosuko shouldn't have thrown you off." Luneth patted his miserable dragon. "Next time, be more careful, okay?"

Squawking, the Light Dragon dropped the ship into the sea, safely back at Dwarf Island. Luneth hopped down onto it and began inspecting the decks. "She looks clean enough. I wonder what her name is..."

"The Enterprise." Arc pointed at the side of the ship, the bow, the hull, the mast, and the many smaller masts. Each had 'Enterprise' printed on boldly.

"Oh. I knew that."

…

Refia groaned, looking around wearily. She was large again, but she felt even more so when she saw the tiny men milling about around her bed. "Um, where am I?"

"I believe we have been rescued from the forest by these dwarves," Ingus said from the cot next to her. "I have told them our friends may come looking for us, and now they are preparing for the Warriors of the Light."

"But how..." Refia saw Luneth's pack lying on a bench next to her. "I see. So we must be famous already."

Ingus nodded. "But of course! And the dwarves are happy to be of help. They even offered to lend us a horn of ice, to find the Fire Crystal easier."

"All right." Refia leaned back in her small bed. "I guess we'll just wait for Luneth and the others, then. Lali-ho!"

"LALI-HO!" The dwarves cheered.

* * *

Heh, never mind. You don't have to leave a review of you don't want to. We Final Fantasy III fans are all antisocial, aren't we? Well, except for the few people who write FF3 Fanfiction, and the few people that do leave reviews... Another chapter tomorrow! Yay! If you find the chapters too short... leave a review! ^-^ Or you can private message me. Did you think of that?


	13. Deep in the Hollows

This is getting boring. Right? So... PLOT TWIST! Not the first one, and it definitely won't be the last!

* * *

Luneth strode into the cave, daggers raised. Arc followed after, his staffs trembling in his hands. Desch, large again, casually sidestepped around them and walked up to the first dwarf he saw.

"Lali-ho! The Warriors of the Light!" The dwarf cried, scurrying further into the cave to warn his friends.

Luneth waved a fist at the receding figure. "You got that right! Lali-no yourself, 'cause we're going to take our friends back!"

"I don't think they mean any harm," Arc whispered. "I mean, don't they look _happy_ to see us? People who take your friends usually aren't happy when you come for revenge..."

"Right you are, Arc," Luneth hissed through his clenched jaw. "But these aren't people. They're dwarves!"

"That hardly makes a difference. Come on, guys." Desch set off after the dwarf, purposefully not wielding any weapons. "If they'd wanted to hurt us, that guy would have raised a battle cry, not a cheerful squeak."

Luneth shook his head, muttering random nonsense about dwarves and small children. Arc placed the blame on lycanthropy.

"HOORAY! The Warriors of the Light!"

Desch stopped dead in his tracks, causing Arc to stumble into him. Luneth raised his daggers threateningly, but his mouth quickly dropped open in surprise. "FOOD!"

A rich banquet table lay in front of them, laden with puddings and festive meats of all shapes and sizes. The thief looked around at the grinning dwarves, spotting Refia and Ingus near the back of the cave.

"Why, hello there! Glad you could make it," Refia cried happily, waving to her friends. Ingus simply nodded at them, and slowly took another bite out of his harpy leg.

Luneth trotted up to them. "How in Ur did they get all of this food?!" He'd picked up a meat pie on his way, and was digging in with a ravenous appetite. "We could never keep meat from the monsters!"

Ingus shrugged. "Apparently, they use Thundara or their lightning weapons, and cook the beasts alive with electrical energy."

Desch strolled over with an extremely smug look on his face. "If you guys would have let me use Thundara just once..."

"This is really good!" Arc exclaimed, holding up a small piece of meat. "What is it?"

Refia made a face. "Oh, those are toad legs from the little things they caught downstairs."

"Ugh!" Arc threw the meat away, hitting Luneth in the face.

"Oh, thanks Arc! You sure you don't want this?"

Refia flinched as flecks of saliva splattered onto her mage robe. Ingus wiped his shirt with his headband, wishing he was still a black mage so he could cast Blizzard on the boy... but Desch had used his mage robe in Yosuko's saddle, so the ex-soldier was now a monk.

A short, exceptionally round dwarf waddled up to the reunited friends. "You must have been very hungry!" He stared as Luneth made his way through a third meat pie.

"Yesh, we werr!" The thief laughed in delight as he spotted another toad leg.

"I can see that," the dwarf continued cautiously, dodging Luneth's hand as it shot for the table behind him.

Arc nibbled on a ghysal salad, trying not to think about what the pieces of meat could be. "Why are you giving us all this food?"

The dwarf shot a sideways glance at Refia. "The young lady was clearly starving, and kept calling out for food, in her sleep."

The white mage blushed. "Well, it's not like we brought any food with us! Those morons-" she gestured at Luneth and Arc- "failed to pack any form of food whatsoever, and all we had to eat was stolen ghysal greens and the occasional gnomish bread!"

"I see. That is troubling, but you can eat to your heart's content here!" The dwarf toddled away, his belly swinging back and forth under his large tunic.

Luneth looked at his food suspiciously for the first time. "Wait... This could be poisoned!"

Desch stuck a finger into the meat pie and licked it thoughtfully. "Hm, it doesn't taste poisoned, so I think you're all right. Besides, Arc knows Poisona."

"Yeah, but..." The thief suddenly felt very tired. "Hey," he called, pulling at the nearest dwarf's beard. "Is there anywhere we can sleep here?"

The pudgy face lit up. "Of course! We have our very own inn!"

"How much a night?" Refia asked before Luneth could stumble away.

"Only eighty gil!"

Luneth glowered at him, mentally slapping himself. "No way! That's way too pricey! You think we have that much money? I'm going to go sleep on the ship..."

His friends watched him stalk away, grabbing a pudding for later. "I was about to say," the dwarf whispered meekly, "for Warriors of the Light, free of charge!"

Luneth was already out of earshot, so Desch ran after him. The dwarf turned to the remaining teenagers. "That was your leader, correct?"

They nodded mutely, knowing what conclusions the dwarf must be coming to. Instead, he laughed maniacally. "Then you are doomed! Fufufufufu!"

"Stop that, Gutsco. You're scaring the guests." The fat dwarf from earlier chided the crazy one.

Gutsco whipped out a costume and donned it, looking even wackier when dressed in the golden robe. "Fufufu! The Warriors of the Light have lost their leader, and are quickly falling asleep themselves! Now there is nothing to stop me from taking the horn of ice! Fufufufufu!"

Ingus made a move to stop the dwarf from approaching the center of the cave, but his body suddenly succumbed to exhaustion from the Sleep-loaded harpy leg. Gutsco tromped over his fallen form, laughing his irritating, "Fufufu!"

Refia fell to the ground next to Arc, sleeping soundly. Her own ghysal salad had been loaded with the Sleep spell, as well. Panic-stricken, the remaining mage cast a quick Aero, aimed at the Rogue. Gutsco let it hit, and it carried him to the top of the pedestal.

"Oops," Arc mumbled before collapsing on the ground. Gutsco laughed again, raising a horn high.

"They are mine! Finally! Fufufu! Now, I can-" A shoe hit him in the head.

Luneth chuckled. "I learned that one from Refia. Now, midget! Are you prepared to pay for what you did to Arc?!" He flung a dagger at the dwarf, narrowly missing the tubby belly.

Gutsco's eyes widened as he realized the danger he was in. With a loud pop, he suddenly disappeared, leaving Luneth in the entryway with one dagger and two shoes.

"Luneff... Can I has my shoo back?" Desch staggered into the boy from behind, sleep overwhelming his age-old body. The thief let him fall face-first into the rocks behind him, racing for Arc's prone figure.

Luneth rolled him over, inspecting the red mage for damage as the boy snored on. "I knew it! You dwarves were evil, after all! Look what you've done!"

"We're terribly sorry, O Great Warrior," the fat dwarf moaned. "Gutsco the Rogue has pulled one over on us all... We had nothing to do with the Sleep-poisoned food! Honest! Though... how are you not sleeping now? I believe you had the most meat of all!"

Luneth glared at him. "How are _you_ not sleepy? Didn't you eat any food?"

"A little," the dwarf admitted, patting his swollen stomach. "But all the food was meant for your party. And if you had any leftovers, you were supposed to take them with you."

Luneth picked up Arc like a sack of ghysal greens and carried him to the inn. "Guess we can't, now. Our else we'd fall asleep every time we... Hang on... Yeah. Oh, yeah. This is brilliant!"

The dwarves watched him carry his friends to the beds one by one. Desch's shoe was nowhere to be found. While the dwarves began pounding out another out of harpy leather, Luneth sat on the last bed and mused over all the mean tricks he could play on Ingus and Refia with the poisoned food.

Outside, Yosuko licked his beak in anticipation. So many midgets in the cave... just waiting to be eaten. Soon, his friend had promised. Soon...

* * *

So how was that? No, you don't have to review if you don't want to... but it would be nice. I really have no plotline for this, but the chocobos are coming. I promise. I know that's what everybody is looking forward to. I am too, 'cause I have no idea what'll happen!


	14. Yosuko Solves the Problem

Hey, everybody! ^-^ And by everybody, I mean the one or two people who read every day and the groups of two that come each day afterwards… :(

* * *

Luneth hugged his dragon tightly, his arms barely reaching halfway around Yosuko's neck. He didn't care. He had failed. "I'm sorry, buddy. No dwarves today. They wouldn't agree to letting you eat them, and now they won't come out at all! There's only one left..."

The dragon stamped a clawed foot, letting out a low hiss.

"No, they're still asleep. But, about the dwarves... Would you like to eat a really fat one? His name's Gutsco."

A louder hiss.

Luneth frowned. "If he didn't have a lot of guts, his name wouldn't be Gutsco, now would it? Hm, I don't know. I've never eaten a dwarf before. Maybe we can split him..."

"G'morning, Luneth," Arc yawned, shuffling out of the Dwarven Hollows. "What's going on?"

Yosuko snorted. Ignoring the dragon's rude comment, Luneth smiled at his friend. "Oh, nothing. Except, the dwarves had their horn of ice stolen and some fat midget is going to potentially destroy the fire crystal, thus making our quest all for naught and exploding our entire floating continent."

"Oh. Well, if that's all..." Arc turned to go back inside, then whipped back around and grabbed Luneth by the shoulders. "Really? That's so cool!"

"I know, right? Wanna do something about it?"

"I don't know..." Arc slumped forwards, all his energy suddenly sapped. "I feel so tired..."

Luneth led him back to the inn cave. "That's all right. We can work on it tomorrow, all right?"

"Okay..."

…

Back outside, Yosuko stared at the cave until his golden eyes felt like imploding. Fat... guts... Gutsco! He'd never tasted dwarf. Did those pot-bellied midgets taste as fattening as they looked? He couldn't wait... No. He _wouldn't_ wait!

With a shriek of excitement, the green dragon turned a brilliant blue and dove underwater. There had to be a dragon-sized entryway to the cave somewhere! He saw a speck of darkness in the water above him. Surely, it had to be an entrance?

He shuddered with excitement, paddling upwards. Somewhere above him was the delectable Gutsco...

His head broke through the water's surface, and the dragon filled his lungs with air. Pivoting around, he searched for any signs of dwarf. Something shiny caught his attention.

There was a great pile of gold to his right, and a fat midget sat on top. With a smirk on his ugly features, he mumbled random garbage that Yosuko couldn't understand at all. Why couldn't the odd creature speak in the same language as the wolf-friend? No one seemed to speak wolf-friend's language...

Yosuko grumbled deep in his throat, preparing a blast of fire. Future meal or not, he couldn't eat the gold clothes. With a deep intake of breath, he aimed... snorted...

Blue flames burst out of the Light Dragon's beak, washing over the dwarf in a raging inferno. Gutsco never knew what hit him. His golden robe melted off, leaving him trembling in his mythril armor, charred and bewildered.

The next blast was more than enough to kill a man, but Gutsco's armor was too tough to be melted easily. As the winged dwarf looked around for his attacker, Yosuko crept up from behind and pounded the fat midget into the ground.

…

"Hey, Yosuko. I'm back," Luneth called, scanning the sky for his friend. Next to him Yosuko pulled himself out of the water, a bedraggled body hanging from his jaws. "What's that?"

The dragon dropped his victim, huffing with pride. "Oh? You did, huh... He's yours, then. I don't want to eat a cooked dwarf. He'd taste much better raw..."

Yosuko whined, nudging the limp body towards his friend.

"Nope, sorry. But... Did you see anything that looked like a horn of ice?"

Another whine, and Luneth nodded slowly. "Yeah. If he'd been holding it, your fire would have had no effect on him. It's no wonder you couldn't pick it up. A creature that uses fire will find such a treasure to be maddeningly cold. I'll go get it, later."

Yosuko settled down to eat his prize, while Luneth wandered off to get Ingus' help with the Toad spell. Refia would be disgusted by the dragon's actions, but Luneth knew a way to gross her out even more. Turn her into a toad...

* * *

Ah, that one was short. Next ones will definitely be longer...


	15. Chocobos!

In response to Chloe; A: thank you for being one of the six readers to have read the last three chapters, and B: Refia is a total jerk in this FanFic and would not cast a white mage spell to save Luneth's life. And remember, she wanted to be a black mage, not white. And as Arc is the coward, he'd much rather take part in healing than jump into the battle... at least for now. Thanks for reviewing! ^-^ I hope I cleared it up for you!

* * *

Arc watched in dismay as his friend crashed into the ground for the third time in a row. "Come on, Luneth! I could understand the first one, but this is getting ridiculous!"

The boy stood up slowly, wiping the dust off his tunic. He'd changed jobs, donning warrior gear in order to claim rights to Wightslayer and make Ingus sick with rage. "It's all right. I'm sure I'll get the hang of it this time!"

Refia was amazed at the persistence of such an idiot. Didn't he know when to give up? It wasn't like Yosuko was extremely supportive of the idea, either. The dragon kept snorting and shaking his head to scare the birds and make it harder for Luneth to hold on.

Ingus shifted on his own Chocobo. "I believe the bird simply does not like him..."

"And why could that be...?" Arc asked with a hard look in Luneth's direction, trying to tell him to give up already. His friend ignored him, sneaking up on a golden bird with the aid of his old thief skills and agility.

Refia groaned. "Hurry it up! I don't even see how this is a challenge for you. You have incredible balance on Yosuko! And yet... You're falling off of a Chocobo!"

Desch shook his head, smirking to himself. "His falling off isn't the part that gets me. It's the fact that he's _losing_ _health points_!" He burst out laughing, and Luneth flushed as the Chocobo shook him off again.

"Just shut up, Desch! I told you, I'll get it eventually... Can you heal me, Arc?" Wiping blood from his face, he looked up at the red mage hopefully.

Refia nudged her Chocobo forwards, pushing Arc away from the warrior. "No way. Let him kill himself, but don't you dare help him. If that Chocobo doesn't like him, there's no way I'm going to let anyone help him catch it!"

"Gotcha, Chocobo!" Luneth clung to the bird's back, a flicker of silver glowing around his body before fading away. Arc blinked. Had he really seen that? Or was it just his imagination?

Desch started clapping, and Arc followed his lead. Refia put on a pouty face, and Ingus just rolled his eyes. "Let us go. We have wasted enough time here already." He urged his mount out of the woods, tugging at the reins with the expertise of a trained cavalry soldier.

Luneth grinned, straddling the neck of his Chocobo and guiding it forwards. "Hey Iggy, how'd you get reins on yours? Mine won't let me!"

"Luneth... Did you ever wonder _why_ it doesn't like you?" Arc whispered, rubbing his steed's beak to calm it down as Luneth neared them. Clueless as ever, his friend shrugged.

"I think it's just a mean Chocobo," Desch snickered, riding after Ingus and Refia.

The warrior nodded. "Yeah. She doesn't like me because she's a mean Chocobo!"

"What a childish idea," Ingus scoffed. "You can't possibly be considering the animal has feelings..."

The monk was suddenly struck in the face by a certain white mage. "How dare you, Ingus! I can't believe you don't understand that animals are just like us!"

"Some, more than you think," Arc muttered under his breath, sneaking a glance at his lycanthropic friend.

Luneth bounced up and down on his bird, grinning like a toddler with a daisy chain. "So where are we going? Can we go now? How far? Why? What for?" He looked around. Everyone had gone already. "Hey, wait up, guys!"

Desch's Chocobo hopped about impatiently. "Hurry up! Come on, that little boy said he'd give us food if we went all the way around the continent on Chocobos!"

"Gnomish bread isn't very filling," Luneth grumbled. "Why can't we just eat the food we got from the dwarves?"

Refia frowned. "I seem to recall you being very anti-dwarvish just yesterday. Why are you suddenly so keen on eating food that you claimed was poisoned?!"

"Erm, that was all just a misunderstanding! We're on good terms now, and their food if absolutely splendid!" Luneth chuckled heartily, and his friends knew better than to trust him. "There's no need to waste our Chocobo's strength on a little piece of bread..."

"That is fine. I am certain I would be able to beat you anyways." Ingus and his mount took off running. Arc could see Luneth's mind catching up, slowly working out the challenge before shooting off after them.

"Yeah right, loser soldier! Like an expressionless freak like you would ever be able to beat me! My Chocobo is the fastest one in the world! Why do you think it took so long for me to catch it?!"

Ingus snorted, pushing his steed harder to stay in the lead. "I was under the impression that it was too_ mean_ for you to control!"

Refia laughed, watching the two dart off into the distance, leaving clouds of dust in their wake. Luneth pulled in front of Iggy again before they disappeared out of view behind a mountain. "And there's two gnomish breads. Those Chocobos sure are fast... Come on, Desch! We can't let them beat us!"

Arc sat all alone on his Chocobo, contemplating the odds of surviving without his friends for three minutes. Deciding his chances weren't good with the way Yosuko was staring at him hungrily, the red mage cast Aero to urge his bird into action.

…

"Who taught that kid how to speak?" Luneth grumbled, gnawing on his prize as he steered his Chocobo away from the Village of the Ancients. "They probably don't even have schools in that stupid town full of old people..."

"Of course they do! I'm sure the boy just had a speech problem!" Refia cried, thumping the boy with her staff.

Ingus huffed. "It would be best to ignore him. He is just upset that he lost."

"You did, too," Desch chuckled.

Refia shrugged. "Well, no one stands much of a chance against a Chocobo that's running for his life... I don't blame any of you stupid, inconsiderate jerks."

"It sure sounds like it..." Desch ducked as a shoe whizzed past his head.

Arc smiled, stroking his bird as they ran. "Yosuko's the real loser. He didn't even get close to my William!"

"Well, you sure are cheerful. After screaming bloody murder around the entire continent, one little piece of bread is enough to make you happy... Boys are so stupid."

"Hey! Try saying something like that to his face again, and I'll..." Luneth ended up just hissing through his teeth, at a loss for a suitable threat that wouldn't prove Refia's point even further.

Desch pointed at something off in the distance. "Is that the village of ghysal, home of the most ghysal greens in the entire floating continent?"

Luneth squinted, trying to make out the landscape. "Could be. I see quite a few ghysal plants..."

"How is that even possible? We're miles away, and those leaves are so small!" Refia frowned, staring at the warrior with open suspicion.

Arc laughed nervously. "Oh, uh, didn't Luneth tell you? He's got great eyesight, superior in fact! He can see things from pretty far away..."

"That explanation makes sense. Was that how he was able to see the parent of Yosuko from the mountain, even before the rest of us?" Ingus asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

Arc nodded, grateful for the example. "Exactly! He's always been like that. I can't believe I didn't tell you..."

"I'm right here, you know. And it's pretty awkward when you're talking about me, and I can't say a word to defend myself!"

"What would you need to defend yourself from?"

Luneth glared. "What do you think, Arc?! You're telling lies about me, and I don't like it!"

'He really is clueless...' Arc just stared at the warrior, so intensely that Luneth suddenly understood.

"...Oh. Never mind, then."

Refia was confused. "I'm not quite sure what's going on here... Luneth, is something the matter with your eyes?"

"Of course not! I just... have good eyesight! What in Ur would give you the impression that something is wrong?"

Desch snickered. "Maybe the fact that you're _hiding_ something!"

Arc blanched. "What? Of course he isn't! Nothing is being kept secret here, nothing at all!"

"Hm, but it sort of makes sense," Refia mused. "You two have really been on edge lately. Do you know something we don't?"

Ingus spoke up out of his long silence. "If there is a serious issue at present , would it not be best to keep these two in our sight until they are pressured to give in and reveal that which they do not tell us?"

"Great idea, Iggy! What a swell plan!" Desch patted the monk on the back, grinning wickedly at the other boys. Luneth felt a sinking sensation deep in his stomach, as if hope for curing his condition was already lost...


	16. Sheep!

Ah, I deleted the first chapter, under the grounds that it had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the rest of the story. And I started this story with the sole intention of making Luneth a werewolf. So! Enjoy this new chapter, and thanks for reading!

* * *

After reluctantly hauling the Warriors of the Light and Desch onto the secluded peninsula, Yosuko settled down for a nap on the edge of the floating island. It had been a long day, what with failing to catch a Chocobo and flying on an empty stomach...

…

In the village of Ghysal, Arc was having the time of his life. The friendly ghysal sheep were letting him ride on their backs like Chocobos. Luneth looked on enviously. Because of his lycanthropy, no sheep in their right mind would let him even come close. The second he tried to approach his friend, the whole flock went bounding away, toting Arc with them.

"Young man, those are not Chocobos!" A shepherd lady called. "Please, do be careful!"

Ingus shook his head in confusion. "I do not understand. If the villagers of this town grow only ghysal greens and manufacture magic keys, what is the purpose of the sheep?"

"Food!" Luneth cried, an idea dawning on him. "They eat veal, and if those pieces of meat won't let me catch them, I'll just have to kill them instead!"

Desch tutted disapprovingly. "Did you already forget what we learned from the dwarves?"

"Oh, yeah! Desch, I need you to use Thundara!" Luneth crowed, darting off after the nervous sheep.

Desch's face lit up, and soon he wasn't far behind the warrior. Ingus watched them go, certain that Desch would be capable of supervising Arc and Luneth to watch for the secret.

"You're thinking about the secret, aren't you? You still worried about that?" Refia asked, stepping up next to him. "Cause the answer is pretty obvious to me."

Ingus looked at her, a faint trace of surprise in his eyes. "Do tell."

The white mage grinned wickedly. "I think I won't. After all, a secret isn't a secret unless you can keep it from your closest friends!"

"I was under the impression that it was the other way around..."

…

Luneth streaked ahead, letting his frustration at the speedy sheep build up. At the peak of his rage, he morphed into the wolf and pounced onto a sheep from three meters away. It was the same method he'd used for the Chocobo, except he'd had no intention of eating the Chocobo...

Arc watched his friend change back while keeping a firm hold on his catch. He was alarmed by the sudden drawing of Wightslayer. "What are you doing, Luneth?!"

The boy stabbed Wightslayer into the dirt, pulling his mount to a rough halt. Ignoring Arc's question, he turned back towards Desch. "Okay! You can use Thundara now!"

The mage had completely missed Luneth's temporary transformation, due to the effort of keeping up with him. "What... Wait! If... if I cast it now, you'll be struck by lightning, too!"

"That's okay! I'll survive. Just hurry, before this blasted sheep knocks me off!"

Desch gazed at the boy uneasily, but he understood the reason for the dangerous request. Luneth was extremely close to being bucked off the back of the sheep, who was rearing and stamping about. "All right..."

Squeezing his eyes shut, the mage recited the words of the spell, and all traces of moisture began to drain out of the air. Lightning crackled, shooting sparks from around the forming dark thunderheads. The clouds drifted until they hung directly above Luneth and the sheep.

The animal bleated pitifully, its eyes rolling upwards as it pranced in place nervously. Arc watched in horrified silence as the clouds released a blinding blast of lightning. Luneth had time only to close his eyes before the light enveloped him. There was one last bleat from the terrified sheep, then all was silent.

…

Refia shook her head again. "I already said it, and this is the last time! I ** will not** eat that charred excuse for a sheep!"

"It is your loss," Ingus muttered, taking a bite out of the ribs he was holding.

Desch nodded, waving a leg at the sudden vegetarian. "Really, it tastes great! And we only had to sacrifice Luneth to kill it!"

"Yes, I know... but why did that idiot pull off such a stupid stunt?" Refia hung her head, unfolding her crossed arms to reveal that they were trembling slightly. "He never understood... my true feelings..."

Arc bowed his head, resting his chin almost completely on his chest. "He thought he would survive it... but Desch's Thundara is extremely powerful."

"Am I the only one not upset about it? Because that's a bit weird. Really, I was the one who cast the spell, so I should be feeling the most remorse! And yet... strangely, I feel nothing." Desch shrugged, ripping a mouthful out of the leg. "Even though his body was completely destroyed..."

Arc moaned, blinking away tears. "I just can't believe he's really gone. I mean... wait."

"What is the matter?" Ingus asked, leaning against a tree. "Did you just now understand?"

Refia looked back and forth at the two. "Understand what? What are you..." She looked to Desch, who only shrugged.

"If his body was gone... That means he got away!" Arc exclaimed, jumping into the air. "Because Thundara kills monsters and such without destroying their bodies, Luneth can't be dead! He would still be lying on top of that sheep!"

Refia blinked. "Oh, yeah... Well, what a big fuss over nothing! That jerk... He had me almost crying! Oh, he will pay..."

Desch laughed, patting Arc on the back. "Good thinking, buddy! I would never have noticed that!"

"I realized it the second you returned..." Ingus mumbled. Everyone ignored him.

Arc looked around, worry once again clear on his features. "So then, where is he?"

"Probably in the woods, laughing at us," Refia sneered, grabbing a leg and digging in angrily. "I wouldn't be surprised..."

Desch nodded, trying to reassure his friend. "He'll be coming along soon."

"...If he is not exercising his important secret," Ingus growled. "Are you all insane? The boy is clearly taking this chance to utilize his time away from our close watch! We must find him at once, if we are to uncover what he is hiding!"

Arc paled. If Luneth had gone back to wolf form, there was no way the four would be able to find him. Even worse, if they found him as the wolf...

"Come on, then. Let's go!" Desch marched off in the direction of the forest, just as a shepherd walked out.

He gasped at the remains of the sheep lying out in the grass. "What... What have you done to my beautiful Ghyla?!"

"How can you even tell them apart?" Refia asked, staring at him in amazement.

He looked at her. "I don't. They're all named 'Ghyla.'"

"Well, we're sorry. Really, we are," Arc muttered, looking at the ground in embarrassment.

The shepherd glared at the four friends. "You better be! You didn't even put ghysal sauce on top! How can you expect to enjoy such a delicacy without ghysal sauce?!"

Desch smiled at him, but Refia and Arc could only stare in disbelief. Ingus... Well, Ingus maintained his blank 'expressionless freak' face.

"Here, let me show you," the shepherd continued. "You take the greens, like this... Then mix in some water from the spring..."

Refia watched as he taught her how to make the sauce... He was teaching only her because Desch was having a one-sided argument with Ingus about Luneth's secret and Arc was daydreaming about all the different things that could go wrong during their search for Luneth.

…

After the strange teenagers with no culinary skills wandered away into the woods, the shepherd settled down to enjoy some Ghyla. A rustle in the thicket startled him, and he backed away from the sheep nervously. "Who's there?"

A battered, burned figure limped out of the forest on three legs. The shepherd instinctively thought first of protecting his dead sheep from the scavenger, and he sat back down next to Ghyla. The silver animal approached him cautiously, looking back at the woods warily. Seeing the coast was clear, he limped up to the shepherd and sat down.

"W- what do you want?" Though the villager had never seen such an odd creature before, he knew it was capable of injuring him, if it so chose. Best to just give it what it wanted, and wait for the odd warriors to come back and get rid of it.

The animal looked at the sheep expectantly. Though Ghyla was slathered in ghysal sauce, she was likely still recognizable as a source of food to the beast. The shepherd nodded slowly. "Sure, you can take all you want!"

The creature nudged Ghyla, then looked back at the man. "W- what do you want me to do?!"

It pawed at the sheep's body with a clawed foot. The man shivered. "You want me to tear off a piece for you?" The creature twitched its head in what could almost be mistaken for a nod.

Shaking, the shepherd ripped the last leg off of the corpse and set it down in front of the monster. Quickly backing away as far as possible without going into the woods, he watched for what the creature would do next.

Panting happily, the animal twitched its head again and lifted the leg up in its jaws. It turned and trotted back into the woods, leaving the unfortunate shepherd wondering whether or not he was delusional and vowing to never touch a drop of ale again.


	17. Luneth Dies?

Yeah, I know it's been boring lately... It'll get more exciting... But first: here's some serious yaoi for the few people still reading! ^-^

* * *

Arc trudged out of the forest first. There had been no sign of his friend at all. Though that had greatly relieved him, it had also made him very worried. Where could Luneth have gone? What if... What if he really had been...

"Hey, Arc!" Refia jogged out after the red mage, then stopped and looked around. "Wait... where'd you go?"

He waved a hand weakly from where he'd fallen to the ground in surprise. "Please d-don't scare me like that..."

"Aw, you're so jumpy, it's almost cute," Refia laughed. "But I was just going to tell you that the rest of us are going back to Yosuko. You can find Luneth, and then come out to us."

Arc stared at her. Why were they leaving the two of them alone, when they'd been so concerned about discovering... Oh. Of course. They were going to spy on them.

"Oh, okay. I guess... I guess I'll just wait here, then! Luneth's bound to come back." Glancing around worriedly, the red mage sat down at the base of a tree.

Refia gave him an odd look. "Whoa... it's almost as if you were turning into Ingus... All right, then. Bye!"

Arc watched her run back into the forest, giggling to herself. As soon as she had left, there was a low whine from the bushes behind Arc and a silver muzzle poked out.

Though he knew exactly who it was, Arc put on an act in case Ingus and Desch were watching. "Who's there?" He whispered softly. Luneth's whole face emerged and the wolf looked at him in confusion. "No! Go back! They're watching..."

Nodding, the wolf darted back into the underbrush and Arc followed cautiously. They came to a small clearing, away from the remains of Ghyla. "Luneth... change back already," Arc muttered, glaring at his friend. "You almost got us caught! And honestly, why don't we just show them? It's not like they'll-"

Without warning, the wolf suddenly ran at Arc, rubbing against his long robe and pushing his head against the boy's hand. "W-what are you doing?! Luneth, that tickles!"

Arc ran his fingers through the long hair on his friend's head, giving in to the wolf and scratching behind his ears a little. Luneth began shuddering sporadically, and Arc noticed his fur was receding, to be replaced by the rough fabric of his warrior's clothes.

In moments, Luneth was human again, crouched in the dirt next to his friend. Standing up nonchalantly, he brushed off the dust as if nothing had happened. "Thanks, buddy."

"W-what was all that about?!" Arc cried, trembling like mad. "First you wanted me to pet you, then you-"

Luneth slapped a hand over the mage's mouth. "Shh, shh! Didn't you tell me our friends are watching? They'll find us more quickly with you screaming like that!"

"Brrt... moonef, pell me wha happem!"

The warrior gave him a patient look, one a parent might fix on a child when they're explaining how wellsprings work for the tenth time. "I can only change back... with your help, Arc."

Lifting his hand from the boy's mouth, Luneth watched as Arc changed colors. Still pink from lack of breath, he was rapidly turning a dark red. "What do you mean...?"

The warrior sighed. "We thought it was the Healing Copse back near Tozus, but I've realized... My speedy recovery then was due to your pleading and moaning during my first outbreak."

"What?!" Arc stepped back in shock. But hadn't the gnome said...

"Even though the gnome took me to the water, I believe I had already begun to change back. Because of your words, I fought back against the wolf and completely recovered just as she stuck my head in the water..."

Arc sat down slowly. Was it true? Had he really been able to help his friend that much? It had always been him?

Luneth sat down next to him, his voice dropping to a whisper. "And that other night... After my rage took over and I woke from my unconsciousness... All I could think about was you, Arc. Because... you were the only one who could help me."

"Luneth..." Arc looked over at him, tears swimming in his eyes. "So then... what was today all about?"

The warrior smiled tenderly, turning his beautiful face on Arc. "I made it back briefly, because you were there."

Arc shivered. Why was Luneth looking at him like that? "And then...?"

"Then I was a wolf again, and got caught with the full force of Thundara!" He smiled wider, and Arc finally noticed the black lines on his burnt skin and clothes. "So I ran away, and found you again..." Luneth leaned in towards the red mage, gripping Arc's hand tightly.

"Luneth! W-what in Ur are you doing?!" Arc tried to pull away, but the boy was too strong.

He winked at his friend, his gentle smile twisting into a smirk. "I'm giving those losers over there-" He gestured towards the trees, where a white robe was visibly sticking out- "what they want!"

"And... what do they want?" Arc asked nervously, afraid he already knew the answer.

Luneth adopted the sweet smile again, pushing Arc to the ground. "They want us to kiss, of course!"

"W-why?!" Arc managed to squeak out. Luneth was heavy... Luneth was smiling... Luneth was on top of him...

The warrior's face dropped closer, his lips parting slowly. "That's what they think our secret is. Those perverts think we're in love..."

Arc took in a few deep, shuddering breaths. "Then why are you going to...?"

"Don't you want to see what it's like? Don't you want to know if you'll like it?"

Arc squeaked, trying to scooch away from his emboldened friend. "You... you can't possibly be saying..."

"Arc... it's all an act. Just pretend..." Luneth's hot breath blew gently into Arc's mouth, and the boy clutched for the clumps of grass around him.

As the lips came closer, Arc's mind raced frantically. Did he really want to try? It couldn't hurt... or could it? Princess Sara had been rather cute, and maybe she would have... but did he really want his first kiss stolen by Luneth?

"That's it!" A voice screamed. "I can't watch this! Luneth, you're sick, and I just can't let you do this to Arc!"

A sudden thump, and the weight was removed from Arc's body. His breathing instantly became less labored, but his chest felt oddly cold.

Arc sat up slowly to see Desch kicking Luneth, who was lying on the ground. With each kick, his friend's body shuddered, and Arc was reminded of the beating he'd already been through.

"Aw, stop it, Desch! It was just getting to the good part, and now you've ruined it!" Refia stumbled out from behind the tree, her eyes wide. Arc grimaced. How sick! The girl had actually _wanted_ Luneth to kiss him?!

Ingus stepped out after her. "I must say that I agree. The event of two boys making out is something I have yet to see..."

"Trust me, you don't want to see it," Desch muttered, still kicking the defenseless warrior. "Not with these two..."

Arc's mouth had dropped open at Refia, but Ingus, too? What was wrong with his friends?! Luneth had been right...

"Oh, well," Refia sighed, dropping to the dirt and sitting with her head in her hands. "But I think Arc really wanted to..."

Desch began kicking the boy even harder. "That was the thing. He really _didn't _want to! I could see it in his eyes... Poor guy. It'd be pretty hard for anyone to resist Luneth, let alone a shy kid like Arc..."

The shy kid was about to stand up for himself, but a sudden noise stopped him short.

Luneth moaned on the ground, clutching his side and coughing up blood. Desch kept kicking him, oblivious through his rage. The warrior rolled over, trying to defend himself, but Desch saw and began stomping on him instead.

Bloodstains appeared on the warrior's tunic, and Luneth stopped coughing and began choking instead. Desch finally stopped, stepping back and glaring at him. "Well, that's what you get for making a move on our defenseless Arc!"

"Y... _your _defenseless Arc?" *cough* "How long have you known us? We-" *hack* "We've lived our whole lives together..." Luneth glared back up at the mage, his eyes glowing a dark purple. Arc stepped back uneasily. That only happened when Luneth was _really _angry...

And if Luneth is really angry, he realized with a start, he can't keep the wolf back! But... he'd said that Arc had the capability of helping him, so maybe...

The red mage rushed forwards, shielding his friend from Desch's view. Muttering a quick Cura, the boy lifted his friend's head onto his lap and healed his numerous wounds. Deep burns and nasty bruises faded away, as did the evil glint in Luneth's eyes. The gashes from Desch's pointed boots sealed up, and Luneth began breathing evenly in Arc's arms.

"I believe you're right, Refia," Ingus whispered from behind them.. "Arc may have desired to be kissed, after all."

Resting Luneth's head in the grass, Arc stood up and glared at his friends. "SHUT UP! You don't understand a thing about us! He was only doing that... He was only doing that..."

"Why _was_ he 'only doing that,' Arc?" Refia smirked, waving a hand to cool herself in the humidity of the forest.

Arc glared at her, frantically trying to think up a good excuse. "He was only doing that because I asked him how to kiss Princess Sara!"

Iggy's look of astonishment was well worth it. Though his eyes only widened slightly, Arc could tell he had greatly shocked the soldier. The look of surprise was quickly replaced by an expression of wild rage, his eyes flaring up as if on fire.

Refia and Desch watched as Arc tore out of the clearing, not even noticing Luneth's eyes opening and staring at Ingus. The soldier gave chase to Arc, and Luneth gave chase to Ingus. Refia and Desch stared as a large silver animal leapt at the monk, knocking him to the ground and pinning him there. With a low, menacing growl, it darted after Arc and disappeared into the foliage.

"What in Castle Sasune was that?!" Ingus staggered to his feet, gazing around in confusion.

Refia shrugged. "I don't know, but it killed Luneth. So... it's a good guy!"

Desch nodded, glancing at the bloody grass. "Yeah. We need that thing on our team."


	18. The Feels!

Hey, small close-knit group of readers that loves to review! Thanks again to Chloe, and a BIG BIG thank you to Saria-Green-Leaf! ^-^

* * *

Yosuko shifted uneasily. Wolf-friend was a wolf again... Why? And the other friends and expressionless loser soldier were jabbering at Yosuko in their strange language. What was going on?

Wolf-friend growled softly, and Yosuko listened closely. Take them back? To the yummy birds that Yosuko couldn't catch? The dragon snorted sadly... but it was what wolf-friend wanted him to do. So he obeyed.

He nodded like wolf-friend had ordered, so the dumb friends would think he understood. Lifting three friends in his scaly hands, he picked up the mean girl in his mouth... As wolf-friend had ordered. She didn't taste very good, but she was squealing. And that was all that mattered.

Wolf-friend ran alongside Yosuko as the dragon flew along the edge of the floating continent. He saw the darkness beyond the fluffy clouds, the same darkness he had noticed earlier. It was unsettling, so Yosuko stopped staring at it and dropped the dumb friends next to the woods of yummy birds.

Wolf-friend sat down and looked around, as if confused by the strange place he had come to. All the while, he was really growling and barking to Yosuko under his breath to explain what was going on. Dumb mage-friend was out to kill him? …Or kiss him? Wolf-friend couldn't tell? Yosuko didn't understand the strange words, but he nodded all the same.

Mean girl began yelling at Yosuko, and wolf-friend translated. 'You stupid dragon! Why did you pick me up in your beak-mouth?! That was gross! It kind of hurt! Do it again!'

Yosuko was pretty sure wolf-friend added in the last part, but he did it anyway. They both hated mean girl. If she thought it was gross, Yosuko would gross her out even more! He picked her up again, this time wrapping his thin, slimy tongue all around her. After a while, she stopped screaming and Yosuko put her back down to see why.

She quickly ran away, having learned her lesson of messing with Yosuko. The brilliant green dragon stamped his foot, snorting in triumph. Then mean girl dragged wolf-friend away and whispered something to him. Wolf-friend translated:

'Go get the mean dragon! Go on, rip his scales off and bite his toes! Kill him if you can, just like you killed Luneth!'

Yosuko was confused. Luneth? Another friend? Had wolf-friend killed a friend? That wasn't nice... Yosuko stamped a foot near the two collaborators, while wolf-friend tried to explain. Luneth was wolf-friend's name? Mean girl and the dumb friends thought he'd killed himself? That was crazy! Wait. They didn't know wolf-friend was Luneth, and he wanted to keep it that way? Yosuko was fine with that.

He lay down, letting wolf-friend pounce all over him. Really, wolf-friend was scratching his scales and the itches that Yosuko told him about each time he growled. Mean girl looked on in satisfaction, thinking she had won. Yosuko snorted at her ignorance.

…

Ingus stood up, regaining the consciousness he'd lost when Luneth's stupid dragon had dropped him to the ground. He was about to yell at the warrior, until he remembered... Luneth was dead.

However, something was a bit off. The boy's best friend was dead, yet Arc showed no signs of crying. Desch hardly looked sorry for beating up Luneth's body so badly, yet Arc had hardly yelled at him. Instead, he was constantly playing with the strange monster that had_ killed _his friend! Ingus frowned, coming to a conclusion that downright terrified him. Could it be...?

"Arc," he began slowly, striding over to the boy. Yosuko had been especially gentle with the red mage, setting him down on his feet. Desch had been dropped like Ingus, and was still sleeping soundly on the ground some three meters away.

Arc turned to meet Ingus' eyes, reluctantly looking away from watching the monsters play with each other. "Yes, what is it, Ingus?"

"Luneth is dead."

Arc's mouth began to open and close with no sound coming out, the boy's special skill these days, it seemed. Ingus waved a hand. "Are you not upset?"

"I... Luneth, he..." Arc's eyes began to water, and Ingus took a step back. Had he misunderstood? Was the boy trying to hide his feelings, somewhere deep underneath that childish face?

Refia stomped over to the two, her eyes ablaze. "IGGY! Why are you talking to Arc about Luneth?! Can't you understand he's on the breaking point right now?! It may be funny to you and Desch, but to Arc, this is serious! Why else do you think he took on Luneth's killer and tried to make friends?! He can't find a replacement for the life-long friend he had in Luneth, and he doesn't want to be left alone! And here you are, _ reminding_ himthat his friend died needlessly, at the hands of a weak monster instead of the mastermind behind the earthquake and the destruction of our world as we know it!"

"You seem to have given it some thought."

Ingus suddenly fell asleep again.

* * *

Refia panted, winded from her long rant at Ingus. How could he be so heartless? Even Desch had admitted it; Luneth was cute. Why didn't anyone ever understand that this whole time, Refia had had the slightest crush on him? That didn't stop her from wanting to see him kiss Arc, though... in fact, she would have wanted him all the more!

But now Ingus was sullying the name of that gorgeous warrior, nearly making Arc cry and managing to explode Refia's short temper. And right now, it was still overflowing. But who should she take it out on? Not Arc... and she wouldn't stoop so low as to beat up the defenseless body of Ingus, as Luneth had suffered under Desch... Desch!

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" She screamed, stomping on the unconscious boy's hand. "NOW WAKE UP AND FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!"

Desch moaned, stirring in his sleep and blinking to stare up at Refia. Shielding his eyes against the sun by cupping his hand, he sat up and grinned at her. "'Morning!"

Desch suddenly fell asleep again.

…

Arc watched Refia go about knocking out her companions, and he turned to Luneth worriedly. The wolf had finished scratching Yosuko, and was now seated at his feet. "What should I do?"

Luneth whined, pawing at his eyes, and Arc understood. Though he didn't see how... "I can't just cry on command!"

The wolf fell to the ground, playing dead. It took a moment for Arc to comprehend. "Think about how I'd feel if you really _were_ dead?"

"Hey, Arc! Talking to your friend?" Refia asked, striding up to him.

The boy nodded, trembling on the inside. '_I hope this_ works..._' _Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he imagined life without Luneth.

_No one to protect him from the village boys, no one to go into a rage and steal his stuff back from them. No one to come home and chuckle to find Arc still reading his borrowed books, no one to avenge his flowers after watching a goblin destroy his favorites. No one to hold him tight when he tripped on the uneven ground, crying over his fallen books. No one to sneak out of the house with late at night, and stare at the stars. No one to practice sparring with, not that Arc was any good at it, but it made them both happy. No one to simply be there when he'd had a rough day. No one to light up Arc's world with that cheerful grin, no one. No one..._

Arc found he was crying, bawling for Luneth. He had somehow ended up in Refia's arms, hugging her as if she was his last small reminder of his friend. A wolf standing nearby was looking at him wide-eyed, and he began sobbing harder for some reason.

"Make it go away!" He cried, squeezing Refia harder. "He killed... it murdered..."

Refia kicked the wolf, and it slunk away with a confused, somewhat hurt expression. Arc didn't care. There was no one... No one to be his friend.

"I'm right here," Refia whispered, and then Arc remembered. He was a Warrior of the Light, and he had three friends left. Four, if you counted Yosuko. But back in Ur, the two boys had only ever had each other, until they became part of the Warriors. Then, they had been surrounded by smiling faces...

No, Arc realized. Only _he _had been surrounded by smiling faces. Luneth had always been too rough, too protective, still more reliant on Arc than on others. He'd been with the boy for so long, he'd come to depend on being his personal bodyguard. He hadn't known how to live any other way... until Yosuko.

Yosuko, the dragon. Yosuko, Luneth's second -and last- friend in the world. Yosuko, the friend that couldn't protect him from a measly wolf. No one could.

Arc cried his heart out in Refia's arms, vowing to kill that wolf if it was the last thing he did.

…

Desch moaned. Why had Refia suddenly busted into him like that? It hurt something awful... Didn't she know he was tender in that particular area? She'd stomped on his stomach, too... huh. That reminded him of something, but he couldn't think what.

"Hey, Arc! Can you spare a few Cures here? I think I broke my..." Desch trailed off, realizing that the bawling boy was in no state to help anyone, least of all himself. Why we he crying so hard? And what was that weird monster doing near the edge of the woods? Desch felt this was something he should remember, but he couldn't quite... Was his amnesia acting up again?

He bopped himself on the head a few times, trying to knock his memory back into place. Then it dawned on him. Luneth... Luneth was...

"Oh, Arc! I'm so sorry! Please forgive me! I didn't mean to be so cruel! It's just, he was molesting you, and I-"

"Shut up," Refia whispered crossly as she rubbed the auburn hair. "Don't remind him of the bad, only the good!"

Desch thought for a moment. Then, "But, hey! You guys almost got to kiss, right before-"

Desch fell asleep for the third time that day.

…

Luneth crouched at the edge of the forest. Arc seemed to be so affected by the thought of losing him that he forgot he really hadn't... This was bad.

Without Arc's support, the wolf would never calm down. Heck, he might even mutate into a real werewolf! How was he going to soothe his friend?

Yosuko trudged over to him, begging to be scratched again. Luneth gave in reluctantly, stealing glances at Arc and Refia as he did so. He could clearly see what was going on here. Refia was seducing his friend, after Luneth had gotten so close to claiming his heart for himself! Arc... why couldn't the boy understand how much Luneth really felt for him...

Yosuko hissed, and Luneth looked down to see Arc poking a thick leg with a stick. Tears swimming in his eyes, the red mage yelled at the wolf on the dragon's back.

"I'll kill you! You just wait; you'll pay for killing Luneth!"

The wolf was pleasantly surprised. By this violent reaction... did it mean that Arc returned his feelings? And yet... he was trying to kill him now. All just a misunderstanding, of course. Still... this was going to be hard.

* * *

Yah, sorry I took so long, but I could have not typed this chapter at all! Only my loyalty to Saria-Green-Leaf keeps me going, because she wants to find out what happens and I have to finish one of my stories before I can write my next one for her! So there you go. And frankly, I love this story.

To new readers of my story! : thanks for reading, I know it's hard to read almost twenty short chapters, and this one is the longest. Leave a review of you liked it, leave a review of you didn't like it! Lalala...


	19. Ingus Learns The Feels!

Yeah, sorry about the last chapter, if you read it before I edited the last part out. I understand you all absolutely LOVE my story, or you wouldn't still be reading. So I'll keep typing every day. Until Monday. School and whatnot. Thank you all for continuing to read! This chapter is going to include an altered scene from the movie clip playing during the opening credits on the ds game near the end. Hope you enjoy! ^-^

* * *

Yosuko gripped wolf-friend tightly in his claws, allowing the dumb friends to climb onto his back as wolf-friend had said they could. Cute friend was glaring especially hard at wolf-friend, raising his staff and snarling. Yosuko could almost understand it, but it was poorly pronounced and sounded like, 'Pop stick noodles.'

As the last dumb friend got on, Yosuko took off, changing his colors to match the sky. Wolf-friend directed him towards a cave near a dock, close to where Yosuko had played with the sea monster. He didn't see the sea monster today, so he lay down and took a nap.

…

Luneth huffed under his breath. Arc was still mad at him... This was not good at all. The vikings might be able to straighten him out, though. They were known for being incredibly cruel. If they could just convince the boy that the wolf was a good asset on the team...

Refia led the team inside while Ingus changed his job to a ranger. The former monk, former black mage, former soldier of Castle Sasune glared at Luneth. "What a waste of warrior. Are we really going to take this thing with us?"

Luneth almost fell over with surprise. Ingus had changed expression! He had _glared_! Was he really learning to use those facial muscles? And even more, he had said that the wolf was a waste of the warrior Luneth had been! Could the boy really miss him?

Refia barked impatiently at the two of them. "Come on, guys!" Luneth was pretty sure Yosuko would have taken, 'Maple choo-choo toads,' from her odd noise.

…

Arc glared at the wolf trotting after him. Why was it behaving so strangely? Whenever Arc took a whack at it, it cowered but didn't avoid the blow. Yet it had savagely killed Luneth without mercy just yesterday! There was something odd about it all...

As Refia talked with the worried vikings about their missing ship and the enraged Nepto monster, she remembered something from a few days ago. "Desch, didn't you say Luneth and Yosuko stole that ship from some dock?"

"Yeah. Wait, you mean..." Desch started laughing. "Oh, don't worry about your ship, guys! We have it, far away from that mean old monster!"

A viking smiled at him gratefully. "Oh, thank you, kind sir! You can keep the Enterprise, then! She is a fine ship, and will suit you well! Only... we'll need some kind of payment."

"Name your price!" Refia laughed merrily.

The viking hung his head. "Please calm the Nepto sea monster."

Refia continued smiling. "No way in heck!"

Their wolf barked at her, snapping at her hand and managing to bite it. "Stop it!" Arc roared, leaping forward and bashing the animal in the head. "That's your comrade, no matter how rude she is!"

"Oh, are you trying to train that thing?" A nearby viking chuckled. "It sure does take a while, but once you've taught them who's boss..." He smacked a fist into his hand. The wolf backed away uneasily.

Refia looked at the viking hopefully. "Oh, you've trained one of these things before?"

"Nope. Something similar, though... Just a baby Behemoth."

Arc gaped at him. '_How in Ur are those things similar?!_'' He glanced back down at the wolf, who was now cowering behind him. Arc kicked it away. "Get out of this yourself."

Giving Arc a hurt look, the wolf loped over to hide behind Desch. Still sour about Luneth's death, the mage nudged him away.

Whining, the wolf turned to Ingus. Something about him reminded the ranger of Luneth, and he shook his head. No way was he going to help out an idiot.

Refia was still bent out of shape about the biting, though she normally would have leapt to the wolf's aid. Now she shook her head.

"Train this thing," the four friends begged in unison, and the viking laughed heartily.

"I'd be glad to, Warriors of the Light! I'll have your pet in top shape when you come back from the Nepto Temple!" He grabbed the wolf by the scruff of its neck and dragged him off further into the cave.

Refia watched them go. "Well, that's that," she sighed, relieved. "Let's leave him here and scram!" Her friends followed her back outside to where the dragon was waiting.

Desch made a snorting noise, trying to copy the way the wolf had always communicated with Yosuko. The dragon looked down at him in confusion. Why was the mage friend saying, 'I made out with your wife'?

…

Luneth yelped in surprise. He'd known the offer had been a scam. A dirty trick, to get the wolf's assistance in hauling ore. But this here... this was beyond his wildest dreams! Tons of diamonds and crystals were being loaded into carts, and chunks of mythril lay scattered about. There was no doubt about it; the vikings were filthy rich!

He allowed himself to be harnessed to a cart, while surreptitiously grabbing as many crystals and diamonds as he could carry in his mouth. As the slave master directed the other carts, Luneth saw Basilisks and Behemoths pulling even larger loads of ore.

"Make that one go faster!" The slave master yelled at the viking who had imprisoned Luneth.

"Gladly," the man sneered, raising a whip and cracking it into the wolf's back. Luneth felt blood seeping into his fur, some his own and the rest from other slow beasts.

He whimpered, keeping a firm hold on the jewels in his mouth as he tugged against the harness with greater effort. Through the cries of the other suffering beasts, he fancied he could hear Yosuko roaring in outrage...

…

Ingus rolled his eyes as the dragon finally ceased his cry. When he'd seen that the strange animal had not returned with them, Yosuko had gone raving mad. Ingus had figured this would happen. The two monsters were as inseparable as Lunth and Arc had been...

The boys had already calmed the Nepto monster by retrieving the statue's missing eye. Refia had used minimal effort to cast Mini on the team when they went in and when they came back out of the statue. They'd been all set to go, but...

"Oh, this is just great! We have to go get that wolf back, don't we?" Desch moaned.

"It would appear to be so," Ingus observed.

Arc nodded, heading back to the cave. "Think he's done with training yet?" As he led the party back, he thought he heard the faintest cry echo throughout the tunnels. A rather familiar cry...

Desch had heard it, too. "Think they're whipping him?" He showed the faintest trace of remorse about leaving the animal to the cruel vikings.

"I hope not," Refia muttered. "Yosuko'd go completely bonkers..."

The cry echoed again, followed by a cracking sound. The four friends looked at each other, then set off running through the cave.

Ingus found the hidden entrance first. Scraping his hand along a wall, he bumped up a rock and a huge passageway appeared. "Brilliant!" Desch cried, taking off down the dark tunnel. In moments, another exclamation of his could be heard.

"Jewels!"

Refia marched up to slap him, but stopped abruptly when she saw what he was talking about. The four friends spread out to stare at the mountains of gems being poured into a pit of volcanic activity.

"What are they doing?!" Arc cried. "What a waste of all those-"

"Shut it!" Refia hissed, pulling him back. "Can't you see they're melting them to make equipment?"

Desch nodded slowly. "You used to be a smith, right. Of course you'd know something like that."

Desch got his slap. Refia hated to be reminded about Takka.

Ingus crossed his arms. "There is a more pressing matter at hand. Where is our beast?" He gestured at the multitude of animals pulling carts around. "This is no training I have ever seen, and I daresay it would be rather wearing on a creature's stamina."

"Yeah..." Arc said sadly, casting his gaze around the huge room.

"What are you doing in here, Warriors of the Light?!" A large viking toting a large whip stomped up to the friends. "You should be out calming the Nepto Dragon!"

Refia gave him a cold stare. "We _did._ And we'd like our 'pet' back, please."

The viking looked around nervously. "And... which one would that be?"

"The wolf," Arc stated firmly.

Desch gave him an odd look, but continued gazing around the cave for any signs of Yosuko's friend.

The viking looked nervous. "Uh, I'm not sure what you're talking about! We don't have any wolves here..."

Ingus groaned, finally deciding to take action. "Sure you don't. Then what's that right _there_, you idiot?!" He pointed off to somewhere behind the viking. While the stout man looked about in alarm, the four took off running, each going a different way to find their mutual friend faster.

…

Refia looked left and right, dodging Basilisks and carts full of mythril. She wasn't in the mood for stealing right now, though. They had to get off this blasted island!

…

Desch laughed with glee. He hadn't had this much fun since... since when, he couldn't remember! Tossing diamonds into the crystal carts and crystals into the diamond carts... The vikings would throw a fit! Who cared about that wolf thing? The others would find him sooner or later... But this was just too fun!

…

Arc sighed, sitting down in a secluded corner and contemplating things. Like, did he really want to find the wolf that had killed Luneth? Could he encounter it without trying to kill it? Would the others be able to find the wolf without his help? And, most importantly... Why did Behemoths smell so bad?

…

Ingus frowned, catching a glimpse of silver fur amongst a crowd of Behemoths. It had been more red than silver, really. How badly had the thing been beaten? And how had Arc known it was called a wolf?

The ranger darted forwards, weaving through the monsters until he saw him. The wolf was lying on its side, its mouth clenched shut as if it was holding something. Stripes of blood covered its back and stomach, and it looked dangerously close to unconsciousness. A viking was still whipping it, calling it a thief and lashing the wolf with every ounce of strength he had.

"Stop it!" Ingus roared, jumping at the man with his bow raised. His wooden arrow flew straight in between the eyes, and the viking howled in pain, stumbling away from the animal.

Ingus knelt next to the wolf. After extracting several large gems, he began pouring potions down its throat. As the wolf stirred, the ranger swept an arrow through the pit of melting gold on his right and shot it up towards the high ceiling of the cave. The flaming arrow signaled to his friends that he'd found the wolf.

In moments, they were all surrounding him, though Desch looked extremely put out about something. He pocketed the wet gems, though, muttering something about 'damage compensation.' Refia made a fuss over the slowly healing wolf and cast Cure a few times to speed up the process.

"Good job," Arc mumbled, looking away from the wolf. The animal stood up slowly, looking longingly at the red mage. With a start, Ingus realized what the stare reminded him of.

Luneth had always been fixing that gaze on Arc, longing to please him. The wolf was displaying a similar expression. Just how popular _was_ the little redhead? '_Er, sorry, Luneth. Not red. You said his hair was brown..._'

Ingus shook his head, surprised at finding himself remembering things about Luneth so easily. But really, it felt like the boy wasn't even missing. In fact...

…

Arc stared at the ground, still not sure of what would happen if he looked at the wolf for too long. Would he try to kill it, thus ruining the team's chances of getting off the island? ...Or would he love it, thus ruining his memories of his friendship with Luneth?

"AAAAARGH!" A viking suddenly rushed forwards, an arrow sticking out of his forehead. "If we can't have it, then you can't, either! I'll take your _life_, lousy beast!" Raising a club, he swiped at the wolf.

Arc found himself watching the terrible scene unfold, despite his promises to himself that he wouldn't. As the viking swung his club, Ingus pushed him off balance. The thick hunk of metal slammed into the ground instead, breaking off a rock and sending the wolf tumbling down towards the boiling lava of gemstones.

Ingus released a cry of alarm, swinging down and grabbing the wolf by the paw. The wolf was alarmed to see Iggy smile down gently at him, as if telling him all would be well. IGGY?! SMILING?! Had he really learned the feels?!

The ranger stumbled suddenly, almost falling after the wolf as the viking on the ground next to him gripped his leg to get his vengeance.

Desch leapt to his aid, pulling Ingus up. The wolf was close behind. The mage stepped back, allowing Refia to cast Cure on the whole party.

Ingus moaned. "Arc... you must...~-~-"

"What did you say?" The red mage asked, kneeling next to him to hear better. Ingus whispered into his ear, and the boy's eyes widened.

"But why? I hate him! I could never..."

Refia thumped him on the back. "Whatever Iggy says, do it. That guy is smarter than he looks, and I'm sure he has a reason for everything." Really, Refia just wanted to see what had made Arc turn so pale.

"A-all right..." The boy inched closer to the panting wolf, and gently patted the fur on its head. The wolf did nothing; only stared at him.

"That's not what I said," Ingus mumbled, watching him with one eye slit halfway open.

Arc gulped nervously. If this was just a prank, he would kill Ingus later. Right now, there were too many breathless vikings watching.

Arc wrapped his arms around the wolf, pushing his lips against those of the animal for a brief second. "I love you," he whispered. With a start, he noticed tears pooling in the wolf's eyes. "What..."

In his arms, the fur changed to rough clothing and the beast turned into a boy. "Thank you, Arc," Luneth mouthed, before passing out on the ground.

* * *

He passed out from **exhaustion**. I know what you're thinking... °~° So, how was it? I'll give you another chapter tomorrow, if you happy ducklings can tell me how you feel! Review if you want, PM if you're Saria-Green-Leaf. I don't care. I thought that one was pretty good, huh? My stories are more about dialogue than description, though... Let me know how I did! ^-^


	20. End of Luneth's Silver

I get the feeling that some people are skipping chapters. Now, why would you want to do that? Three people read the last one? I'd hope that there's SGL still reading, and Chloe too. So, who are you, third person? MoV?Whoever you are, this chapter is dedicated to you! ^-^ Last chapter, unless someone wants me to keep going! Review, please. I'll never know if you want more if you don't review! Sorry it's short, I'm just FED UP with no reviews. So I **QUIT** until further notice. °-^ peace out...

* * *

Luneth groaned, blinking into the sunlight as rhythmic wingbeats sounded around him. He was startled to see he was human again, until he remembered what had happened at the Viking's Cove.

"All right, out with it!" Refia sat next to him, keeping him from falling off Yosuko's back. Her concerned expression was another shock, as Luneth had never expected her to care what happened to him.

"There is nothing to come out with," Ingus remarked dryly from Luneth's right. "It is quite clear he is a werewolf."

Desch smacked himself in the head from his seat behind them. "Yeah. Why didn't I realize sooner?"

"If Ingus hadn't understood when he did, you'd be a gilded wolf right now," Refia whispered. As if Luneth didn't know that.

Arc stared straight ahead, steering Yosuko with the flimsy reins. They weren't really necessary, as Yosuko would go where Yosuko wanted to go, or where Luneth told him to. No amount of tugging on pieces of leather would change his mind.

Luneth looked around at his friends and tears filled his eyes. "You don't… hate me?"

"Why would we hate you?" Desch asked, rubbing Luneth's back. "Not sure about Arc, though..." The warrior had never had a massage before, and he instantly went limp.

Refia slapped him. "What are you doing, Desch?! You still have Salina! Luneth doesn't even have him anymore…" She stopped talking, remembering the events of yesterday.

"No, it's all right," Luneth mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut as he cried. "That feels good, Desch. Refia… I think I know what happened."

The girl nodded sadly as Ingus sighed. "You two would have made a rather cute couple."

"Luneth…?" Arc's small voice drifted to the wolf's keen ears, a voice for his ears only. "I… I'm so sorry! I forgot about you… what happened to me?"

Hearing his friend sound so helpless made Luneth want to scream. '_ It's not your fault, Arc! I don't blame you! I could never hate you… Just please tell me you feel the same way…"_

Arc dropped the reins suddenly, realizing his act was futile. Turning around, he revealed the tears swimming in his own eyes. "Luneth!"

Refia kicked Desch away as the two more-than friends united, realizing their love for each other and displaying it in a passionate hug. Luneth smiled softly, breathing in the scent of Arc's hair as his friend sobbed against his chest.

Ingus and Refia politely looked away from the emotional scene, but Desch was rapt. "Whoa! Are you guys going to kiss again?!"

"Those last two didn't count," Refia muttered, sneaking a peek at the boys. "Ack! But _that _one does!"

Luneth ignored the childish squeals outside. Right now, he was in his own world. With Arc. The wolf was gone, and it would never come back. Arc was all he ever needed. That had been true for years. In the battles for the world, no matter what strange order, the two would always be there for each other. Eternal friends, riding in the eternal wind…


End file.
